Pygmy beaked whale

The Peruvian beaked whale ( Mesoplodon peruvianus ), also referred to as Zwergschnabelwal, is a cetacean of the family of beaked whales ( Ziphiidae ). The species was first scientifically described in 1991 and is the smallest member of their family.

The first indications of the existence of Wales, there was in 1976, when the skull of an unknown species of whale was found on a Peruvian fish market. 1988 was found a stranded animal in Peru, since there are more copies and have been found on the west coast of Mexico, so their range is likely to include the eastern Pacific between these two countries.

With a length of 3.4 to 3.7 meters in the Peruvian beaked whale beaked whale is the smallest, with males slightly larger than females. At the top he is dark gray and whitish - light gray at the bottom. Like all species of the genus of the two toothed whales it has only two teeth in the lower jaw and the fin is small and sits strikingly far behind.

These whales are likely to live together in small groups of two to three animals and reside predominantly in the deeper oceans. As with most beaked whales they are good and persevering divers and feed primarily on squid and fish.

The whaling poses no threat to the Peruvian beaked whale is, but rather the fact that specimens caught and drowned in fishing nets. For an accurate indication of the total population or the degree of hazard but there are too few data.