Dense-beaked Whale
Mesoplodon densirostris
- Least concern
- Card rarity: Common
- Mammals
Blainville's beaked whale, or the dense-beaked whale, is believed to be the widest ranging mesoplodont whale. The French zoologist Henri de Blainville first described the species in 1817 from a small piece of jaw—the heaviest bone he had ever come across—which resulted in the name densirostris. Off the northeastern Bahamas, the animals are particularly well documented, and a photo identification project started sometime after 2002.
Classification
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Ziphiidae
- Genus
- Mesoplodon