Narwhals are marine mammals of the Monodontidae family (monodont = ‘one tooth’) that live in Arctic waters around Canada, Greenland and Russia.

They are a species of whale (the only other member of the Monodonts is the Beluga whale) and most notable for having a long, helical tusk which is actually a modified canine tooth.

Narwhals can live for up to fifty years in age and live on fish, primarily cod and halibut.

I would love to tell you that the title of this blog is a clever metaphor (and, please, feel free to invent your own connections between long-toothed sea mammals and chronic illness) but really it came from a joke that there was unlikely to be any appearance of narwhal in the coming posts.

That said, they are magnificent creatures and deserve a mention.