Blainville's beaked whale

Blainville's beaked whale
Diagram showing a whale and scuba diver from the side: The whale is two and a halft times longer than a human
Size compared to an average human
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Ziphiidae
Genus: Mesoplodon
Species:
M. densirostris
Binomial name
Mesoplodon densirostris
Blainville, 1817
Blainville's beaked whale range

Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), or the dense-beaked whale, is believed to be the widest ranging mesoplodont whale. The French zoologist Henri de Blainville first described the species in 1817 from a small piece of jaw — the heaviest bone he had ever come across — which resulted in the name densirostris (Latin for "dense beak"). Off the northeastern Bahamas, the animals are particularly well documented, and a photo identification project started sometime after 2002.[3]

  1. ^ Pitman, R.L.; Brownell Jr.; R.L. (2020). "Mesoplodon densirostris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T13244A50364253. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T13244A50364253.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ^ Reeves, Randall (2008). Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. New York: National Audubon Society. pp. 294–295. ISBN 978-0375411410.