Volume 16, Plate XI / Mammalia (Mammals)

Narwhal, or Sea Unicorn

Usually fifteen to sixteen feet in body, blackish grey and spotted above, paling to white beneath, with no dorsal fin and bearing one long, straight, spirally twisted ivory tusk, commonly the left, projecting from the upper jaw. Quick, active and inoffensive, it sports in bands among the polar ice and bays of Greenland and Davis Straits, feeding on cuttlefish, flatfish and skate caught by its small toothless mouth.