Mammals of the WorldGinkgo-toothed Beaked Whale
Mesoplodon ginkgodens
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Ziphiidae
- Genus
- Mesoplodon
- IUCN status
- DD
- Distribution
- American Samoa|Australia|Chile|China|Colombia|Cook Islands|Ecuador|Galápagos Islands|Fiji|French Polynesia|India|Indonesia|Japan|Kenya|Kiribati|Marshall Islands|Mexico|Micronesia|Nauru|New Caledonia|New Zealand|Niue|Northern Marianas|Palau|Papua New Guinea|Peru|Philippines|Pitcairn|Samoa|Sri Lanka|Taiwan|Tanzania|Tokelau|Tonga|Tuvalu|United States|Vanuatu|Wallis and Futuna|Bangladesh?|Brunei?|Cambodia?|Costa Rica?|El Salvador?|Guam?|Guatemala?|Honduras?|North Korea?|South Korea?|Malaysia?|Myanmar?|Nicaragua?|Panama?|Singapore?|Thailand?|East Timor?|Vietnam?
- Realm
- Marine
Other names: Japanese Beaked Whale
About this species
- Diet
- Probably mainly squid
- Habitat
- Deep water; spends nearly all its time foraging at depth
- Range
- Tropical and temperate Indian and Pacific Oceans
The ginkgo-toothed beaked whale is a poorly known beaked whale named for the unusual shape of its pair of teeth. It is fairly typical in appearance but notable for males having no scarring. Males are overall dark grey with light patches on the front of the beak and around the head, and small white spots under the tail; females are lighter grey with countershading (Wikipedia, general species account).
Its range is essentially tropical and temperate waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It probably feeds mainly on squid. The whales are shy and wary of boats and spend almost all of their time foraging at depth, coming up for air for a few minutes before descending again. Its call has a distinct acoustic signature known as BW43. Its occurrence in Japanese waters is documented by the National Museum of Nature and Science marine-mammal database.
Description: Wildlife of Japan guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)