Family Ziphiidae (beaked whales) 23 species in 6 genera found in parts of all oceans. Genus Mesoplodon 15 species found worldwide, all possessing a single pair of teeth.
This new species is similar to the Baird's beaked whale but is instead is smaller, is darker in colour and has a shorter beak.
They and Arnoux’s beaked whale may well represent different populations of the same species; only through comparison of specimens can this be confirmed or disproven. BAIRD’S BEAKED WHALE Family: Ziphiidae Genus: Berardius Species: B. bairdii Stejneger, 1883 Baird’s beaked whales are very gregarious animals, often found in large groups of 30 or more. Stejneger, 1883 - Baird's beaked whale Distinctive Characteristics Baird's beaked whales are the largest whales in the ziphiid family. Their habitat is the deep ocean which makes them challenging whales to study in the wild. Watson, L. 1981). This species may be the only large beaked whale found in the North Pacific.
Other articles where Baird’s beaked whale is discussed: beaked whale: Natural history: 7 feet) for the giant bottlenose whale (Berardius bairdii), these mammals weigh between 1,000 and 14,000 kg (2,200 and 31,000 pounds). Baird's beaked whales are the largest beaked whales and can grow to just over 11 metres in length, with females just pipping the males as the larger sex. The body is relatively more slender than in bottlenose whales.
Baird’s beaked whales are the largest of the currently known 21 species of beaked whales.
Baird’s beaked whale is the largest of all the beaked whales, sometimes reaching a maximum length of 42 feet (12.8 m). Unlike their bodies, which are brownish-grey, these melons turn a whitish hue as they age. With long, slender bodies, they have proud foreheads which protrude in a dense lump. Berardius bairdii have a limited range within the northern Pacific ocean. They have a long, well-defined, tube-like beak and a rounded forehead (rising at a shallower angle than in bottlenose whales, Hyperoodon spp.). They prefer deeper water, beyond the 1000 meter line (Minasian, S.,K Balcomb, III and L Foster, 1984. Its blow is low and indistinct, which may be another reason why they escape detection at sea. Most information about them has been obtained from dissections of animals killed in coastal hunting off Japan and studies of stranded whales. Their bodies are often covered with scars from fighting each other and from… Because it tends to avoid ships, sightings of Baird’s beaked whales are infrequent. Colour is variable but usually consists of some combination of gray or black with white. They can be found in waters near Japan and southern California and as far north as the Bering Sea.