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==Conservation==
==Conservation==
[[Japan|Japanese]] whalers in the past opportunistically caught Cuvier's, taking between 3 and 35 each year (before 1955).<ref name=iucn/> The species has been reported taken incidentally in fisheries in [[Colombia]], the [[Italy|Italian]] [[swordfish]] fishery, and in the drift gillnet fishery off the U.S. west coast, where between 22 and 44 individuals died each year off [[California]] and [[Oregon]] from 1992 to 1995.<ref name=iucn/> Cuvier's beaked whale is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas ([[ASCOBANS]]) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area ([[ACCOBAMS]]). The species is further included in the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia ([http://www.cms.int/species/waam/index.htm Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU]) and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region ([http://www.pacificcetaceans.org/ Pacific Cetaceans MoU])
[[Japan|Japanese]] whalers in the past opportunistically caught Cuvier's, taking between 3 and 35 each year (before 1955).<ref name=iucn/> The species has been reported taken incidentally in fisheries in [[Colombia]], the [[Italy|Italian]] [[swordfish]] fishery, and in the drift gillnet fishery off the U.S. west coast, where between 22 and 44 individuals died each year off [[California]] and [[Oregon]] from 1992 to 1995.<ref name=iucn/> Cuvier's beaked whale is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas ([[ASCOBANS]]) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area ([[ACCOBAMS]]). The species is further included in the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia ([[West African Aquatic Mammals Memorandum of Understanding|Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU]]) and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region ([[Pacific Islands Cetaceans Memorandum of Understanding|Pacific Cetaceans MoU]])


Beaked whales may also be sensitive to noise. A higher incidence of [[Beached whale|strandings]] has been recorded in noisy seas such as the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. Multiple mass strandings ([[Beached whale|beachings]]) have occurred following operations by the [[Spanish Navy]].<ref>[[Beached whale#SONAR]]</ref>
Beaked whales may also be sensitive to noise. A higher incidence of [[Beached whale|strandings]] has been recorded in noisy seas such as the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. Multiple mass strandings ([[Beached whale|beachings]]) have occurred following operations by the [[Spanish Navy]].<ref>[[Beached whale#SONAR]]</ref>

Revision as of 07:05, 21 September 2012

Cuvier's beaked whale
Size comparison against an average human
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Ziphiidae
Subfamily: Ziphiinae
Genus: Ziphius
G. Cuvier, 1823
Binomial name
Ziphius cavirostris
Cuvier's beaked whale range

Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris)[1] is the most widely distributed of all the beaked whales. It is the only member of the genus Ziphius. Another common name for the species is goose-beaked whale because its head is said to be shaped like the beak of a goose.

History of discovery

The French anatomist Georges Cuvier, in his treatise Sur les Ossemens fossiles (1823), first described the species based on an imperfect skull from the Mediterranean coast of France. It had been obtained by M. Raymond Gorsse in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, near Fos, in 1804 from a peasant who had found it on the seashore the previous year. Cuvier named it Ziphius cavirostris, the specific name being derived from the Latin cavus for "hollow" or "concave", in reference to the deep hollow (the prenarial basin) in the skull, a diagnostic trait of the species. Cuvier believed it to represent the remains of an extinct species. It wasn't until 1850 that zoologists realized the extant nature of the species, when Paul Gervais compared the type specimen to another that had stranded at Aresquiès, Hérault, in May of the same year, and found the two to be identical.[2]

Physical description

Cuvier's beaked whale has a short beak in comparison with other species in its family, with a slightly bulbous melon. The melon is white or creamy in color and a white strip runs back to the dorsal fin about two-thirds of the way along the back. The rest of the body color varies by individual: some are dark grey; others a reddish-brown. Individuals commonly have white scars and patches caused by cookiecutter sharks. The dorsal fin varies in shape from triangular to highly falcate. The fluke of the whale is about one-quarter the body length. The whale grows up to about 7 meters (23 ft) in length and weighs 2–3 tonnes (2.0–3.0 long tons; 2.2–3.3 short tons). They live for forty years.

The Cuvier's beaked whale is difficult to distinguish from many of the mesoplodont whales at sea.

Food and foraging

Cuvier's beaked whale feeds on several species of squid, including those in the families Cranchiidae, Onychoteuthidae, Brachioteuthidae, Enoploteuthidae, Octopoteuthidae and Histioteuthidae; they also prey on deep-sea fish.[3]

Range and habitat

Cuvier's has a cosmopolitan distribution in deep, offshore waters from the tropics to the cool temperate seas. In the North Pacific, it occurs as far north as the Aleutians and in the North Atlantic as far north as Massachusetts in the west to the Shetlands in the east. In the Southern Hemisphere, it occurs as far south as Tierra del Fuego, South Africa, southern Australia, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands. It also frequents such inland bodies of waters as the Gulfs of Mexico and California and probably also the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.[4]

Cuvier’s beaked whale may be one of the most common and abundant of the beaked whales, with a worldwide population likely well over 100,000. There are estimated to be about 80,000 in the eastern tropical Pacific, nearly 1,900 off the west coast of the United States (excluding Alaska), and over 15,000 off Hawaii. [5]

Conservation

Japanese whalers in the past opportunistically caught Cuvier's, taking between 3 and 35 each year (before 1955).[5] The species has been reported taken incidentally in fisheries in Colombia, the Italian swordfish fishery, and in the drift gillnet fishery off the U.S. west coast, where between 22 and 44 individuals died each year off California and Oregon from 1992 to 1995.[5] Cuvier's beaked whale is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS). The species is further included in the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia (Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU) and the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MoU)

Beaked whales may also be sensitive to noise. A higher incidence of strandings has been recorded in noisy seas such as the Mediterranean. Multiple mass strandings (beachings) have occurred following operations by the Spanish Navy.[6]

Specimens

  • MNZ MM002092, collected Cape Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, 14 October 1988.

References

  1. ^ Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier's Beaked Whale at marinebio.org
  2. ^ Turner, W. (1872). On the occurrence of Ziphius cavirostris in the Shetland Seas, and a comparison of its skull with that of Sowerby’s whale (Mesoplodon Sowerbyi). Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 26 (4): 759-780.
  3. ^ Evans, Peter G. H. 1987. The Natural History of Whales and Dolphins. Facts on File Publications, New York, p. 137.
  4. ^ Reeves, R., Stewart, B., Clapham, P. & Powell, J. (2002). Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. New York: A.A. Knopf. p. 255. ISBN 0-375-41141-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ a b c Template:IUCN2008 Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as least concern.
  6. ^ Beached whale#SONAR
  1. Cuvier's Beaked Whale in the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals Thomas A. Jefferson, 1998. ISBN 0-12-551340-2
  2. National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World Reeves et al., 2002. ISBN 0-375-41141-0.
  3. Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises Carwardine, 1995. ISBN 0-7513-2781-6

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