The carcass of a rare species of beaked whale recently washed up on a California beach with mysterious
The remains of an unusual dolphin-like whale4.9 meters was found in May on a beach at the Jug Handle State Nature Preserve near Fort Bragg. A team from the nearby Noyo Marine Science Center discovered the body with the help of researchers at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The team collected samples of the whale's blubber, organs and skull and sent them to the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank in Charleston, South Carolina, for analysis.
Little is known about these mysterious whales,belonging to the family Ziphiidae. Scientists believe there are about two dozen species, but only a few, including Baird's beaked whale (Berardius bairdii) and Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), have been thoroughly studied.
Their ability to dive to depths and stay underwater for three hours is one of the main reasons why scientists know so little about beaked whales. “They're not often spotted, alive or dead, which makes finding a dead whale really important,” Moe Flannery, senior manager of bird and marine mammal specimen collection at the California Academy of Sciences, told news site SFGate.
A recently washed-up specimen is likelyis Hubbs's beaked whale (Mesoplodon carlhubbsi) or Steineger's beaked whale (Mesoplodon stejnegeri). However, it could also be a toothed ginkgo-beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens) or a pygmy beaked whale (Mesoplodon peruvianus). Sequencing DNA from whale tissue samples will help determine the exact species.
The Noyo Center team noted that around the beakThe whale had unusual, unpleasant-looking injuries, but scientists could not say what caused them. “It appears that there is some kind of trauma near the jaw, but until scientists take a closer look at the skull itself, it is difficult to say what caused it "Explains Trey Petrie, manager of the Noyo Center's interpretive department, who helped retrieve the dead whale from the beach.
One possible cause of whale injuries iscollision with a ship. Beaked whales and other cetaceans (the group that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises) are most at risk. This is because they use sound to navigate, and noise pollution from boats can disorient them.
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