Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776) . Reise Prov. Russ. Reichs, 3(1):85 [footnote].

TYPE LOCALITY: NE Siberia, "die im Obischen Meerbusen" (= mouth of Ob River) .

DISTRIBUTION: Circumpolar in Arctic seas; Okhotsk and Bering Seas; northern Gulf of Alaska (Cook Inlet); Gulf of St. Lawrence: arctic to cold-temperate waters; occasionally strays south to Honshu, Japan; France; and Massachusetts, USA.

STATUS: CITES - Appendix II; IUCN - Insufficiently known.

SYNONYMS: albicans, beluga, catodon, dorofeevi, marisalbi.

COMMENTS: Reviewed by Kleinenberg et al. (1969), T. G. Smith et al. (1990), Stewart and Stewart (1989, Mammalian Species, 336) and Brodie (1989).