Berardius arnuxii
Arnoux's Beaked Whale [+]

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacea
Family: Ziphiidae
Genus: Berardius
species: Berardius arnuxii
+ITIS +WoRMS +Conservation Status

Description & Behavior

The Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii (Duvernoy, 1851), aka Arnux's beaked whale, southern four-toothed whale, southern beaked whale, New Zealand beaked whale, southern giant bottlenose whale, southern porpoise whale, is a rare cetacean species. This whale reaches up to 9.75 m in length, and females are thought to be slightly larger than males. The Arnoux's beaked whale resembles Baird's beaked whale, but Arnoux's is slightly smaller. They are predominantly dark brown in color with paler coloring on the head and ventral side, which also has white patches. Like other whale species, males show extensive scarring, particularly around the dorsal fin. They are often called the southern four-toothed whale because of the 4 teeth found in the lower jaw that are visible even when the mouth is closed. The head is relatively small and the beak is slender.

Arnoux's beaked whales are a gregarious species generally found in groups of 6-10, but larger groups of 80 individuals have been recorded. Groups of these whales have been observed swimming under sea ice up to 7 km deep between breaths, a remarkable distance for any cetacean. During breathing intervals near the surface, these whales have been observed changing direction before diving between 249-366 m for long periods of time, up to an hour, in extremely cold water. The surface temperature of the water in the area studied in this case was -0.8°C. In spite of these amazing swimming skills, Arnoux's beaked whales have been known to become trapped under the ice.

World Range & Habitat

The Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii, are found throughout the southern hemisphere from the Antarctic continent and ice edge north to about 34°S. They are found in the southern Pacific including south eastern Australia 29°S and northern New Zealand 37°S, and in the southern Atlantic to Sao Paolo 24°S, and Indian Ocean. They are widely distributed; however they are not common within their range. Most reported sightings have been in the Tasman sea and around the Albatross Cordillera in the South Pacific. Strandings have predominantly been found around New Zealand.

Arnoux's beaked whales are known to enter pack-ice and are thought to live close to the ice edge in summer and farther out in open water during winter.

There have been many sightings of Arnoux's beaked whales in the Cook Strait during summer, and sightings of large pods were reported along the western Antarctic coast during spring.

The Arnoux's beaked whale has been found in both shallow, coastal waters, as well as near continental slopes and seamounts.

» GBIF occurrence data in Google Earth [Requirements | Tips] | Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) [World Map] | [about]

Feeding Behavior (Ecology)

The Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii, likely feeds on benthic and pelagic fishes and cephalopods.

Life History

The Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii, is thought to share similar reproductive habits with Baird's beaked whale.

Comments

The Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii, is too widely dispersed in remote areas for commercial hunting. Several individual whales have been taken for scientific study.

References & Further Research

BioOne ~ CITES ~ Discover Life ~ GBIF ~ Google Scholar ~ ITIS ~ IUCN RedList ~ MarineBio Network ~ NCBI ~ SCIRIS ~ SIRIS ~ Tree of Life Web Project ~ Wikipedia

Approximately 60 Arnoux's beaked whales were seen and photographed frolicking on the surface in the Gerlache Strait, Antarctica (November 4th, 2009).
CMS: Berardius arnuxii, Arnoux's beaked whale
OBIS-SEAMAP - Species Profiles
Center for Cetacean Research and Conservation (CCRC) - Beaked whales (+ videos)
Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood, and M.A. Webber, FAO species identification guide, Marine mammals of the world, Rome, FAO. 1993. 320 p. 587 figs.
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS)

Search the Web for Arnoux's Beaked Whale » ARKive ~ Ask.com ~ Ask Jeeves ~ bing ~ deviantART ~ dmoz ~ Dogpile ~ Google Images ~ MySpace Images ~ OceanFootage ~ Picsearch ~ StumbleUpon ~ Yahoo! Images ~ YouTube

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Citation: Berardius arnuxii, Arnoux's Beaked Whale - MarineBio.org. Retrieved , from .

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Berardius arnuxii Arnoux's Beaked Whale [+]