species of beaked whales in the northwest Atlantic.

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Northwest Atlantic; Sowerby's beaked whale
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.294.7728; http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/ao1995whgv-wn.pdf

These include Gervais ' beaked whale, Mesoplodon europaeus; True's beaked whale, M. mirus; Blainville's beaked whale, M. densirostris; and Sowerby's beaked whale, M. bidens. These species are difficult to identify to the species level at sea; therefore, much of the available characterization for beaked whales is to genus level only. The distribution of Mesoplodon spp. in the northwest Atlantic is known principally from stranding records (Mead 1989). Off the northeast U.S. coast, beaked whale (Mesoplodon spp.) sightings have occurred principally along the southern edge of Georges Bank (CeTAP 1982; NMFS unpublished data). Most sightings were in late spring and summer. In addition, beaked whales were also sighted in Gulf Stream features during NEFSC 1990-1994 surveys (NMFS unpublished data). Gervais's beaked whales are believed to be principally oceanic, and strandings have been reported from the mid-Atlantic Bight to Florida, into the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico (Leatherwood et al. 1976; Mead 1989). This is the commonest species of Mesoplodon stranded along the U.S. Atlantic coast. The northernmost stranding was off New York (Mead