Right whale \Right" whale`\ (Zo["o]l.)
   (a) The bowhead, Arctic, or Greenland whale (Bal[ae]na mysticetus), from whose mouth the best whalebone is obtained.
   (b) Any other whale that produces valuable whalebone, as the Atlantic, or Biscay, right whale (Bal[ae]na cisarctica), and the Pacific right whale (B. Sieboldii); a bone whale.

Pygmy right whale (Zo["o]l.), a small New Zealand whale (Neobal[ae]na marginata) which is only about sixteen feet long. It produces short, but very elastic and tough, whalebone.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)