Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay
Mesoplodont beaked whales are one of the most enigmatic mammalian genera. We document a pod of four beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay breaching and tail slapping alongside a large passenger ferry. Photographs of the animals were independently reviewed by experts, and identified as True’s beaked wha...
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crpeerj:10.7717/peerj.7809 2024-06-02T08:11:47+00:00 Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay Robbins, James R. Park, Travis Coombs, Ellen J. Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship The London Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7809 https://peerj.com/articles/7809.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/7809.xml https://peerj.com/articles/7809.html en eng PeerJ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PeerJ volume 7, page e7809 ISSN 2167-8359 journal-article 2019 crpeerj https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7809 2024-05-07T14:13:45Z Mesoplodont beaked whales are one of the most enigmatic mammalian genera. We document a pod of four beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay breaching and tail slapping alongside a large passenger ferry. Photographs of the animals were independently reviewed by experts, and identified as True’s beaked whales ( Mesoplodon mirus ). This is the first conclusive live sighting of these animals in the north-east Atlantic, and adds information to previous sightings that are likely to have been M. mirus. Photographs of an adult male appears to show two supernumerary teeth posterior to the apical mandibular tusks. Whilst analysed museum specimens ( n = 8) did not show evidence of alveoli in this location, there is evidence of vestigial teeth and variable dentition in many beaked whale species. This is the first such record of supernumerary teeth in True’s beaked whales. Article in Journal/Newspaper North East Atlantic PeerJ Publishing PeerJ 7 e7809 |
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Open Polar |
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PeerJ Publishing |
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English |
description |
Mesoplodont beaked whales are one of the most enigmatic mammalian genera. We document a pod of four beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay breaching and tail slapping alongside a large passenger ferry. Photographs of the animals were independently reviewed by experts, and identified as True’s beaked whales ( Mesoplodon mirus ). This is the first conclusive live sighting of these animals in the north-east Atlantic, and adds information to previous sightings that are likely to have been M. mirus. Photographs of an adult male appears to show two supernumerary teeth posterior to the apical mandibular tusks. Whilst analysed museum specimens ( n = 8) did not show evidence of alveoli in this location, there is evidence of vestigial teeth and variable dentition in many beaked whale species. This is the first such record of supernumerary teeth in True’s beaked whales. |
author2 |
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship The London Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robbins, James R. Park, Travis Coombs, Ellen J. |
spellingShingle |
Robbins, James R. Park, Travis Coombs, Ellen J. Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay |
author_facet |
Robbins, James R. Park, Travis Coombs, Ellen J. |
author_sort |
Robbins, James R. |
title |
Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay |
title_short |
Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay |
title_full |
Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay |
title_fullStr |
Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay |
title_full_unstemmed |
Supernumerary teeth observed in a live True’s beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay |
title_sort |
supernumerary teeth observed in a live true’s beaked whale in the bay of biscay |
publisher |
PeerJ |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7809 https://peerj.com/articles/7809.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/7809.xml https://peerj.com/articles/7809.html |
genre |
North East Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North East Atlantic |
op_source |
PeerJ volume 7, page e7809 ISSN 2167-8359 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7809 |
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PeerJ |
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7 |
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e7809 |
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1800758041351553024 |