Tag: Sperm

Beaked whales

Beaked whales

Beaked whales are a fascinating wide-ranging family. There are 24 species, but they spend much of their time in the ocean depths, and are capable of holding their breath for up to 3 hours.

More amazingly, it appears that some species might only spend several minutes at the surface before returning to the depths. Now, while this 3 hours record dive is repeatable is a big question. Assuming the beaked whale was capable of repeating this 8 times in a 24 hour period, we would be talking about a species which spends only 1% of its time at the surface. Given their shape also allows them to keep an incredibly low profile, even at the surface – and we do not know how many of them there are, it makes it clear how hard it would be to spot one.

If you could sit in one place, in the ocean for 24 hours, and have a whale repeatedly return to the surface for 2 minutes, half a mile away, it would not be hard to miss the animal.

Please note, where I have found a video, it is in line with the correct image. Before you reach all these species, there is an amalgamated news section for all beaked whales.

We are eager to support tourism of these species, but given they are seen so rarely, there is not a great deal of tourism connected to them. However, we will happily list anyone who does work in tourism and sees one of these even once (we will also list you on pages for cetaceans that you see more regularly.

Arnoux beaked whale Genus Beradius

Also known as the southern 4 toothed whale, southern beaked whale, New Zealand beaked whale, southern giant bottlenose whale and southern porpoise whale is one of the species of Berardius. This species and the one below, is so similar that only genetic evidence and the huge distance between them convinced people they were separate species. 

Little is known about them, because they are encountered so rarely

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Baird Beaked whale Genus Beradius

Also known as the northern giant bottlenose whale, North Pacific bottlenose whale, giant four-toothed whale, northern four-toothed whale and the North Pacific four-toothed whale, is a species of whale from the genus Beradius. It is the second largest toothed whale after the Sperm Whale

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Sato Beaked whale Genus Beradius

This whale was only recognized as a separate species on the basis of mtDNA. Its beak is usually only around 4% of body length. The name comes from the researcher who defined it (from pictures on land.

They generally have many scars, which are easy to see, as their skin is dark and the scars light to white.

Its classed as near threatened, though its hard to know.

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Hyperoodon – bottlenose whales, northern bottlenose whale The northern bottlenose whale was hunted heavily by Norway and Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is capable of diving incredibly deep, with recorded dives reaching 2339m, and has been timed staying under water for 130 minutes. The northern bottlenose whale is endemic to the North Atlantic Ocean< and populations are found in the deep (500 m) cold subarctic waters of the Davis Strait, Labrador Sea, Greenland Sea, Barents Sea, , but can range as far south as Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. As of 2017, the population in the North East Atlantic is estimated to be between 10,000 and 45,000.

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Hyperoodon – bottlenose whales, Southern bottlenose whale

The southern bottlenose whale is a species of whale, in the Ziphiid family, one of two members of the genus Hyperoodon. Seldom observed, the southern bottlenose whale is resident in Antarctic waters. The species was first described by English zoologist William Henry Flower in 1882, based on a water-worn skull from Lewis Island, in the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. They live in deep ocean waters over 1000 meters.

Gnerally their dives last 15-40 minutes, but it is unclear if they would be capable of diving for as long as the northern species. There are no population estimates, though they make up 90% of ziphiid sightings in Antarctic waters.

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Indopacetus, Tropical bottlenose whale

The tropical bottlenose whale, also known as the Indo-Pacific beaked whale or Longman’s beaked whale, was considered to be the world’s rarest cetacean until recently, but the spade-toothed whale now holds that position. As of 2010, the species is now known from nearly a dozen strandings and over 65 sightings. This is the only species in its genus.

Given how rarely they are sighted, they have not been hunted, though they have been killed accidently.

Andrews' beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Andrews Beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales Blainvilles beaked whale

Blainville's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales Deraniyagala beaked whale

The Deraniyagala beaked whale is so rare, I have been unable to find a video to place here

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Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Gervaiss beaked whale

Gervais's beaked whale
Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales,

Ginkgo-toothed beaked whlae

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, grey beaked whale

grey beaked whale
Hector's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Hectors beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Hubbs Beaked whale

Hubbs' beaked whale
Perrin's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Perrins beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales, Pygmy beaked whale

Pygmy beaked whale
Ramari's beaked whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae, Genus Mesoplodon, mesoplodont whales

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Sowerby's beaked whale
Spade-toothed whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Stejnegers beaked whale
Strap-toothed whale

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

Subfamily Hyperodontinae

True's beaked whale

Rice Whale

Rice Whale

The Rice whale is also known as the Gulf of Mexico whale, is a relatively newly discovered whale. Until 2021, it was thought that this whale was a subpopulation of the Brydes whale, however it is actually genetically distinct.

Growing up to 12.65m and weighing between 13.8-27.2 metric tonnes, it is found in the north-east of the gulf of Mexico. unfortunately it is on the brink of extinction. The deep-water horizon oil spill killed around 20% of the whales of this species. 

While it has not been observed, the killer whale actively hunts in the area, and has regularly killed sperm whales. Brydes whales have also been targeted, so it seems impossible that rice whales are not targeted.

Around 100 of these whales exist, which is very close to extinction. 

Pygmy Sperm Whale

 The Pygmy sperm whale is one of just two species from the Superfamily Kogiidae, the other one being the Sperm whale. They are seen very rarely, with the majority of the knowledge about them, coming from carcasses that wash up on the beach. It was first described in 1834 based on a skull that washed up on the coast of france in 1784 (50 years earlier). While originally placed in the same genus as the sperm whale, it was moved to its own genus Kogia, as it is actually a species which is half way between the dolphins and the sperm whale.

They grow to around 3.5m, which is smaller than many dolphin species.

It has a far smaller brain than the sperm whale (even by comparison size) which my explain why it has such a lot more simple social life.

Pygmy sperm whales are found throughout the tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, though there are also seen regularly off Russia. Fossils in Japan, Italy South Africa have been found, suggesting that they were more widely spread. The problem is, that seen rarely at sea, and with most of what we know about coming from carcasses, we have little idea if dead and dying animals behave differently to healthy ones.

Seen rarely, I have been unable to find out how long they can hold their breath, though as the sperm whale can hold its breath for 90 minutes, so its likely that the pygmy sperm whale is also an impressive breath holder – this would explain why they are seen so rarely.

Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises family tree

Cetaceans -Whales, porpoise and dolphins

Few people can avoid stopping to watch, if they spot cetaceans from a cliff. While the family is wide and varied, they are all pretty interesting. From some of the largest and most intelligent hunters such as killer whales to the largest animal on earth the blue whale.

Whale and dolphin watching tourism is worth a lot of money – this can be essential, as in many places the extra money helps a community survive. 

I hope, overtime, to make this section of the website as large a list of places to view cetaceans and people who will help you in that quest.

As might perhaps be suspected, all of the mammal species which have returned permanently to the sea, and developed breathing holes located on their back (and therefore perfectly placed for taking quick breaths) are  related.

So what is the most closely related living land mammal? Perhaps obviously, it is a species which spends much time in the water – the hippopotamus.

As with all of these pages, as we create pages for each individual species, they will be linked to the photo below.

So the baleen whales are split into three families, these are not large as there are only 16 species of baleen whales in the world. At the current time, there are roughly 1.1 million baleen whales in the worlds oceans

Below is a family tree of the group

 

Baleen Whales

Baleenideae – the rhight whales

 

The first  living split is Baleenidae, this family is not huge. The north atlantic and north pacific are closest related, these species are closely related to the Southern pacific right whales. Their name is unfortunate – it is called right whale for 3 reasons, it swims slowly, floats when dead and carries a large amount of oil. This lead to all these species being hunted close to extinction.

North Atlantic right whale
North pacific right whale
Southern right whale
Bowhead whale

The other family is called Balaenopteroidea. Here species peel off slowly. I will list them in the order that they split.

The first split is the minke whale – of which there are 2 species, the common and southern minke whale, with the grey whale being the next most similar.

Brydes whale
Antarctic (Southern) Minke Whale
Grey whale and calf by NOAA Fisheries West Coast
Common minke whale
Sei whale mother and calf Christin Khan NOAA

The next are the humpback whale and the fin whale followed by the Blue whale.

Underwater humpback whale jd forester
fin whale by Amila Tennakoon
Blue whale, taken by Australian Antarctic program

The last group of whales are from a group called the Brydes whales complex

Brydes whale
Edens whale
Omuras whale
Rice whale
Sei whale mother and calf Christin Khan NOAA

This completes the list of baleen whales. The other branch of the Cetaceans is known as the toothed whales

Toothed Whale

.I am going to look at them in 3 groups, though the third is not particularly closely related to each other

  • Delphinoidea: This includes
    • Monodontidaes – Belugas and narwhals
    • Phocoenidae – The family of Porpoises (7 species) such as harbour porpoises and Vanquita

 

bermeister porpoises
dalls porpoise Susan E Adams
Harbour Porpoise
Indo pacific (or east Asian) finless porpoise
Spectacled porpoise
Vaquita (Paula Olson NOAA)
Narrow Ridged finless porpoise (Yangtze finless porpoise by huangdan2060)
    • Delphininidae – these are the oceanic dolphins – 37 species split into several subfamilies which we will deal with one by one.
Subfamily Delphininae – 15 species

Subfamily  Globcephalinae 11 species

Australian snubfin dolphin
False killerwhale by Adam U
Long-finned pilot whale nu Gailhampshire
Rough toothed dolphin
Melon-headed Dolphin by Cyril di Bisceglie
Pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) off of Guam
Irrawaddy Dophin
Short-finned pilot whale by Martina Nolte
Risso's dolphin by Citron

Subfamily incerta sedis (latin for “of uncertain placement” )6 species

Atlantic White-sided Dolphin
Dusky dolphin by AllenMoC
Hourglass dolphin by Lomvi2
Pacific white sided dolphin by NMFS southwest fisheries science center
Peales dolphin by fDrummondH
White beaked dolphin by Kees Camphuysen

Subfamily Lissodelphininae 6 sppecies

Black dolphins by Bobbyandck
Commerson's dolphin by Tonina1
Haviside dolphin by Joachim Huber
Hector dolphin by Avenue
Northern right whale dolphin credit NOAA NMFS
Southern right whale dolphin

Subfamily Orcininae

Orca by Robert Pittman NOAA
  • Inioidea : This includes 3 groups
    • Iniidae (only 1 of 5 genus remains -Inea (4 species: Araguaian river dolphin, Bolivian river dolphin  and Orinoco dolphin)
Amazon river dolphin by Oceancetaceen sometimes known as the Orinoco
Araguaian river dolphin by Rio Cicica
Bolivian river dolphin by Ramon and Suzanne Vargas
    • Lipotidae: which contains only one species: the Baiji or Chinese river dolphin
  • Pontoporiidae: which contains one species 
La plata dolpin

The next family is the beaked whales. There are 24 species, of which only 3-4 have been well studied. This is because they spend much of their time deep in the sea, it appears that each species does not have many members and they are incredibly reclusive in their habits.

One might ask how an air breathing animal can spend so much of its time deep in the ocean? Well the Curved beaked whale has had a dive timed at 138 minutes. More incredible, they only need around 2 minutes to catch their breathe before sinking back into the depths. This means that if required, they can spend just 20 minutes out of 24 hours at the surface – an incredible stunt.

There appear to be a great number of species that are extinct – these we will not list, but will mention each subfamily in passing.

Incertae sedis contains 5 extinct genus, Basal forms include 13 extinct genus

Subfamily Berardiinae contains 3 genus, 2 of which are extinct, but the third contains 3 living species (and one dead) .  

Genus Beradius

 

Arnoux's beaked whale
Baird beaked whale
Sato beaked whale

Next we cover the Bottlenose whales

Northern                                                                                                                     Southern and                                                        Tropical

northern bottlenose whale
Southern bottlenose whale
Tropical bottlenose whale

Subfamily Ziphiinae  contains 5 genus, 3 are extinct, but two have just one species in each

Genus Tasmacetus: Shepherds beaked whale Genus Ziphius: Cuviers beaked whale

Click on the image to see it in full

Shepherds beaked whale
Cuvier's beaked whale

The most populous genus Mesoplodon – mesoplodont whales

As you can see, many of the pictures are of dead whales, or skulls or diagrams, or even just text. This is because sightings of many species are so rare that they have never had a photo taken

Andrews' beaked whale
Blainville's beaked whale
deraniyagala beaked whlae
Gervais's beaked whale
Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale
grey beaked whale
Hector's beaked whale
Hubbs' beaked whale
Perrin's beaked whale
Pygmy beaked whale
Ramari's beaked whale
Sowerby's beaked whale
Spade-toothed whale
Strap-toothed whale
True's beaked whale
Stejners beaked whales

As you can see from the whale family tree, the sperm whales are separate from the rest. However, they are toothed whales so belong in this section of the page.

pygmy sperm whale
Sperm-whale-by-Gabriel-Barathieu

aaa Sea of Cortez

Sea of Cortez, gulf of California, USA

With the Colorado river in the north to the Baja peninsula in the south, the sea of Cortez is relatively large and is scattered with around 240 islands.  While there is some wildlife to be explored on some of the islands, the seas are also teeming with a wide variety of species. On the surface blue fin humpback and sperm whales can be seen, alongside bottlenose dolphins Guadeloupe fur seals and leaping Mobula rays. There are also a wide variety of sea birds. As well as all this that can be seen from a boat, there is also a large number of coral reefs, meaning it is hugely popular with snorkellers and divers as well.

See Animals Wild