Sowerby's beaked whale

Sowerby 's beaked whale ( Mesoplodon bidens )

The Sowerby 's beaked whale ( Mesoplodon bidens ), also referred to as the North Sea Beaked Whale or finned, is a cetacean of the family of beaked whales ( Ziphiidae ). This was discovered in 1804 as the first whale species in the genus of the two toothed whales and got its name from its first describer James Sowerby.

Dissemination

The home of Sowerby 's Beaked Wales is the northern Atlantic Ocean. In the West, their range extends from Labrador to New England; However, the focus of their occurrence forms the eastern Atlantic, where they are distributed from the coast of Norway to Madeira. Also in the North Sea, they occur, possibly in the Mediterranean. With more than 150 strandings, most of them in the British Isles, the type is one of the better documented her family. However, sightings of live animals are rare.

Description

Sowerby 's Beaked whales can reach a length of up to 5.5 meters and a weight of up to 1.5 tons. They are stained dark blue or gray at the top, bottom and sides are lighter. From the long snout protrude in adult males two teeth from the lower jaw, in females and young animals, these are not visible when the mouth is closed. This species of whale has very small flippers and a small, crescent-shaped fin that sits far back on the body, like all beaked whales, the large Fluke is bent at the edge and has no center notch.

Way of life

These whales are inhabitants of open seas, they prefer areas with a water depth of 500 to 2000 meters. About the size of the group, there are different information, in addition to sightings of live animals in pairs ( paired and strandings ), there are also reports of schools, which consist of three to ten animals, including several males. Males are easily recognized by their scars on the back and flanks, these scars stem from rival fights ago, hosting the animals with their excellent teeth. Immersion depth of 800 meters and an immersion period of 10 to 15 minutes are reported, these values ​​may be too low. The whales eat mainly smaller squid and live on the sea bottom fish.

Threat

For commercial hunting of these whales were rare, but they come as by-catch in the nets of fishermen. For accurate data on the level of danger, however, too little is known about these animals are found.

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