Blainville beaked whale
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Blainville's beaked whale ( Mesoplodon densirostris ) |
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| Mesoplodon densirostris | ||||||||||||
| ( Blainville , 1817) |
The Blainville's beaked whale or Blainville's beaked whale ( Mesoplodon densirostris ) is a species of whale from the family of the beaked whales (Ziphiidae). It got its name from the French zoologist Henri de Blainville , who described the species in 1817 using a jaw find .
distribution
Blainville's beaked whales are the most widespread species of two-toothed whales , found in all tropical and temperate oceans . Finds or sightings are known from the North American Atlantic coast , the Caribbean , Portugal , the western Mediterranean , South Africa , the western Indian Ocean , Japan , eastern Australia , Hawaii and the central Pacific .
description
With a length of 4.7 meters, the Blainville beaked whale is one of the smaller representatives of its genus. It is dark gray on the top and light gray on the belly, whitish scars from rival fights, from parasites and from shark attacks can be found on many animals. These whales have a long snout, the lower jaw is arched upwards. Two very large teeth grow on this bulge, which in males also protrude from the closed mouth. Behind the muzzle, a small, clearly visible melon can be seen on the skull . The small flippers are narrow and have a point. The small, sickle-shaped fin , which, like all beaked whales, is placed far back, is moderately wide and has a pointed tip.
A specialty of the Blainville beaked whale is its double sonar .
Way of life
Blainville's beaked whales live in tropical and temperate oceans, but prefer the open seas and rarely come near the coast. They live in small schools that can contain two to nine animals and are considered good divers who can stay underwater for up to 45 minutes and can also dive very deeply (located to a depth of 1,200 meters). They feed on fish and squids . Like all two-toothed whales, they are shy and relatively seldom seen; despite their large area of distribution, little is known about them.
threat
Blainville's beaked whales are hunted on a small scale, mostly by whalers from the Philippines , Taiwan and Japan . Other threats to these animals are bycatch in fishing nets, pollution of the seas and experiments with sonar : for example, after NATO maneuvers in 2000 and 2001, which also used low-frequency sonar, mass stranding of whales, including Blainville and Cuvier -Beaked Whales .
In view of the worldwide distribution of this species, there is little knowledge about it, and no information can be given about the total population and degree of endangerment.
literature
- R. Wandrey: Whales and Seals of the World . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags GmbH, 1997, ISBN 3-440-07047-6
Individual evidence
- ^ PT Madsen et al .: Biosonar performance of foraging beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris). In: Journal of Experimental Biology , Volume 208, No. 2, 2005, pp. 181-194, doi : 10.1242 / jeb.01327 .
Web links
- Mesoplodon densirostris in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Cetacean Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 12 May, 2006.