August 18, 2011

How Many New Beaked Whales Are Out There?

beaked whale

A month ago, Australian officials found a beached whale. They thought it was a minke, but recently announced it was a Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) – one of only four discovered in the past 150 years by the Queensland Museum. Cuvier’s beaked whales are one of 21 known beaked whale species. It is clear that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Georges Cuvier first described this species in 1823 from part of a skull found in France in 1804. He thought it represented an extinct species — it wasn’t until the 1870s that it was realized the type specimen represented a living species.

Beaked whales, by far, are the most frequent new marine mammal to be discovered. How many are out there?

beaked whale

Scientific Name:

Mesoplodon perrini Species Authority: Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002

Common Name/s:

English – Perrin’s Beaked Whale
French – Mésoplodon De Perrin
Spanish – Zifio De Perrin
Taxonomic Notes: Mesoplodon perrini was only described a few years ago, based on five animals stranded on the coast of California (between 33°55’N, 117°15’W and 36°37’N, 121°55’W) from May 1975 to September 1997 (Dalebout et al. 2002). Four of these animals were initially identified as Hector’s Beaked Whales (M. hectori), based on cranial morphology (Mead 1981, Mead and Baker 1987, Mead 1989). A fifth specimen was initially identified as a neonate Cuvier’s Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris), based on external features. Sightings of two small beaked whales off California in the 1970s which were tentatively identified as M. hectori (Mead 1981) are also likely to be M. perrini (Dalebout et al. 2002). Although similar morphologically, the genetic data do not support a close evolutionary relationship between M. perrini and M. hectori. Instead, these data suggest a possible sister-species relationship with the pygmy beaked whale M. peruvianus (Dalebout et al. 2002, Dalebout et al. 2004).


Perrin’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon perrini)

For more on the new cetaceans discovered since 2000, see here.

Loren Coleman About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct). Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015. Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.

Email • Facebook  • Twitter • 

Filed under Cryptomundo Exclusive, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, New Species