Mammals of the WorldMelon-headed Whale
Peponocephala electra
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Peponocephala
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- American Samoa|Angola|Anguilla|Antigua and Barbuda|Aruba|Australia|Bahamas|Bangladesh|Barbados|Belize|Benin|Bermuda|Bonaire|Sint Eustatius|Saba|Brazil|Brunei|Cape Verde|Cambodia|Cameroon|Cayman Islands|Cocos Islands|Colombia|Comoros|Cook Islands|Costa Rica|Cuba|Curaçao|Djibouti|Dominica|Dominican Republic|Ecuador|El Salvador|Fiji|French Guiana|French Polynesia|Gabon|Gambia|Ghana|Grenada|Guadeloupe|Guam|Guatemala|Guinea|Guinea-Bissau|Guyana|Haiti|Honduras|India|Indonesia|Iran|Jamaica|Japan|Kenya|Kiribati|Liberia|Madagascar|Malaysia|Maldives|Marshall Islands|Martinique|Mauritania|Mauritius|Mayotte|Mexico|Micronesia|Montserrat|Mozambique|Myanmar|Namibia|Nauru|New Caledonia|Nicaragua|Niue|Northern Marianas|Oman|Pakistan|Palau|Panama|Papua New Guinea|Peru|Philippines|Pitcairn|Puerto Rico|Réunion|Saint Barthélemy|Saint Kitts and Nevis|Saint Lucia|Sint Maarten|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|Samoa|Senegal|Seychelles|Sierra Leone|Singapore|Solomon Islands|Somalia|South Africa|Sri Lanka|Suriname|Taiwan|China|Tanzania|Thailand|East Timor|Tonga|Trinidad and Tobago|Turks and Caicos Islands|United States|Vanuatu|Venezuela|Vietnam|British Virgin Islands|United States Virgin Islands|Wallis and Futuna|Morocco|France|Republic of the Congo?|Democratic Republic of the Congo?|Cote d'Ivoire?|Equatorial Guinea?|North Korea?|South Korea?|Nigeria?|Saint Helena?|São Tomé and Príncipe?|Tuvalu?|Uruguay?
- Realm
- Marine
Other names: Electra Dolphin|Little Killer Whale|Many-toothed Blackfish
About this species
- Size
- Up to 2.75m
- Weight
- Up to 225kg
- Diet
- Pelagic and mesopelagic squid and small fish, caught at night in the upper 400m
- Litter size
- 1 calf every 3–4 years
- Gestation
- About 12 months
The melon-headed whale, also called the electra dolphin, is a toothed whale of the oceanic dolphin family, named for its head shape. It grows to 2.75 m and 225 kg, with adult males slightly larger. The body is charcoal to dark grey, with a dark cape that starts narrowly at the front of the head and dips steeply below the dorsal fin. Adult males have rounder heads, longer flippers, taller dorsal fins and broader flukes than females (Wikipedia, general species account).
It feeds at night, mainly on pelagic and mesopelagic squid and small fish that rise toward the surface after dusk. Groups of more than 100 are more likely to be melon-headed whales than pygmy killer whales. It is not known to migrate. Females bear a single calf every three to four years after about 12 months of gestation, and animals live up to 45 years. Small numbers have been caught in driftnet fisheries in South Asia and elsewhere (Wikipedia, general species account).
Description: Wildlife of Korea guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)