Genetic structure of the beaked whale genus Berardius in the North Pacific, with genetic evidence for a new species

• Published in: Marine Mammal Science
• Main Authors: MORIN, PHILLIP A., BAKER, SCOTT C., BREWER, REID S., BURDIN, ALEXANDER M., DALEBOUT, MEREL L., FEDUTIN, IVAN D., FILATOVA, OLGA A., HOYT, ERICH, Jung, Jean Luc, LAUF, MORGANE, POTTER, CHARLES W., Richard, Gaëtan, RIDGWAY, MICHELLE, ROBERTSON, KELLY M., Wade, Paul R.
• Other Authors: Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California San Diego (UC San Diego), University of California-University of California, Marine Mammal and Turtle Division (MMTD), Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Marine Mammal Institute and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Oregon Eugene, Fisheries Technology, University of Alaska Southeast (UAS), Kamchatka Branch of the Pacific Geographical Institute, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Sydney (BEES), University of New South Wales Sydney (UNSW), Faculty of Biology Moscow, Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS), WDCS, Université de Bretagne Occidentale - UFR Sciences et Techniques (UBO UFR ST), Université de Brest (UBO), Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, Smithsonian Institution, Laboratoire de Biologie et génétique des mammifères marins dans leur environnement (BioGEMME), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Oceanus Alaska, Auke Bay Ocean Center, Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: cetacean; Ziphiidae; Arnoux’s beaked whale; Baird’s beaked whale; population structure; mitochondrial DNA; phylogenetics; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Southern Ocean; Bering Sea; Pacific
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01363951; https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12345

International audience There are two recognized species in the genus Berardius, Baird’s and Arnoux’sbeaked whales. In Japan, whalers have traditionally recognized two forms of Baird’sbeaked whales, the common “slate-gray” form and a smaller, rare “black” form. Previouscomparison of mtDNA control region sequences from three black specimensto gray specimens around Japan indicated that the two forms comprise differentstocks and potentially different species. We have expanded sampling to include controlregion haplotypes of 178 Baird’s beaked whales from across their range in the North Pacific. We identified five additional specimens of the black form from theAleutian Islands and Bering Sea, for a total of eight “black” specimens. The divergencebetween mtDNA haplotypes of the black and gray forms of Baird’s beakedwhale was greater than their divergence from the congeneric Arnoux’s beaked whalefound in the Southern Ocean, and similar to that observed among other congenericbeaked whale species. Taken together, genetic evidence from specimens in Japan andacross the North Pacific, combined with evidence of smaller adult body size, indicatepresence of an unnamed species of Berardius in the North Pacific.