Researchers collected environmental genetic samples of this strange creature that are still being analysed, but the photographs and acoustic recordings have researchers “highly confident” it’s a never-before-described species of beaked whale.
It all started in 2018 when a strange sound was picked up in the waters around Mexico’s San Benito Islands (and, before that, off the coast of California). Whales, dolphins, and porpoises are all known to have their own unique calls, but this sound, known as BW43, was harder to place. It didn’t really fit in anywhere.
Researchers say the photographs taken do not resemble Perrin’s beaked whale or any other member of the Hyperoodontidae family. Nor do its acoustics, picked up on an underwater microphone, sound like any other known cetacean.
As such, the team of beaked whale experts think it must be a newly discovered species, although verification is still needed.
Beaked whales are one of the least well-known groups of mammals in the world, largely because of their preference for the deep sea, spending the vast majority of their time thousands of metres below the waves.
For instance, just last month, Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) set a record for the longest dive ever recorded in a marine mammal, spending nearly four hours underwater without a breath.
Hundreds of years after naming the first beaked whale, scientists are still finding new species of this large, deep-diving mammal. At first, scientists thought there were only two species. Now, we’ve identified at least 23, some of which have never been seen alive. Only a handful have been studied in any detail.
Some, like True’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon mirus) can weigh thousands of pounds, and yet even then, only a handful of people have ever seen them swimming in the wild.
In 2016, DNA analysis confirmed a new beaked whale species had washed up on the coast of Japan and Alaska with a rare black colouring. After several genetic lines of evidence, the creature was officially named Berardius minimus, or Sato’s beaked whale, in 2019.
Now, a year later, it looks like we’ve found yet another. But this time, they were alive and singing.
Distinguishing between species is difficult enough, but for the beaked whale, it’s especially challenging. The sheer lack of information on each species makes it hard to compare them without proper genetic samples.
In many cases, we can’t even figure out their conservation status. Without knowing their population numbers, whether they migrate, and what their habitats are like, it’s hard to say how beaked whales are coping in a rapidly changing world.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/techandscience/scientists-think-they-ve-discovered-a-new-species-of-beaked-whale/ar-BB1bSsbH?ocid=msedgntp