Andrew's beaked whale
| Andrew's beaked whale | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Mesoplodon bowdoini | ||||||||||||
| Andrews , 1908 |
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The Andrew's beaked whale ( Mesoplodon bowdoini ) is a rare and little known whale species from the family of the beaked whales (Ziphiidae). It was described by the American zoologist Roy Andrews in 1908 and has been named after him ever since.
Andrew's beaked whales are native to the oceans south of Australia and around New Zealand . The species is so far only known from strandings in these two countries. Possibly their range extends in the south to the Antarctic .
features
These whales have a torpedo-shaped body with elongated, tiny flippers , a small, crescent-shaped fin over the back third of the body, and a wide fluke that is not notched. They are dark blue to black in color (males are gray), only the relatively short snout is white. Males are also characterized by a lower jaw arched in the middle, on each of which a triangular tooth protruding from the mouth can be seen. In young animals and females, these teeth are hidden in the gums. The jaw is very narrow in front of the bulge, behind it lies a flat melon . With an average length of 4.5 meters and a weight of around 2600 kg, the species is one of the smaller two-toothed whales.
In the absence of sightings, Andrew's beaked whales are believed to be shy and do not live in the areas of the ocean where humans travel. Nothing is known about their way of life either, but it can be assumed that they live in the open sea like the other two-toothed whales. Investigations of the stomach contents of stranded specimens have shown that they primarily eat squid and a small proportion of fish .
No information can be given on population size or risk.
literature
- Rüdiger Wandrey: The whales and seals of the world . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags GmbH, 1997, ISBN 3-440-07047-6
Web links
- Mesoplodon bowdoini in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Cetacean Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.