Mesoplodon bidens Sowerby 1804

• Main Authors: Russell A. Mittermeier, Don E. Wilson
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2014
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Cetacea; Hyperoodontidae; Mesoplodon; Mesoplodon bidens; Norwegian Sea; Canada; Baleine; The Throat; The Beak; Iceland; North Atlantic; Sowerby-Zweizahnwal
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6608581; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6608581

18. Sowerby’s Beaked Whale Mesoplodon bidens French: Baleine-a-bec de Sowerby / German: Sowerby-Zweizahnwal / Spanish: Zifio de Sowerby Other common names: North Atlantic Beaked Whale, North Sea Beaked Whale Taxonomy. Physeter bidens Sowerby, 1804, UK, Scotland, “stranded on the estate of James Brodie, Esq. F. LL. S., in the county of Elgin.” This species is monotypic. Distribution. Restricted to the cooler waters of the N Atlantic Ocean from 71° 30" N in the Norwegian Sea, Iceland, and [Labrador (Canada) in the N, to Madeira, Azores, and NE USA to the S; single records from the Gulf of Mexico and E Mediterranean Sea are thought to represent vagrant individuals. In general, this species appears to be more widespread in E Atlantic Ocean than in W Atlantic Ocean, which may be related to preferences for cooler water temperatures. Descriptive notes. Total length 450-550 cm; weight 1000-1500 kg. Body of Sowerby’s Beaked Whale is spindle-shaped, with greatest girth around its midpoint. Flukes are wide in relation to body length, and tailstock is compressed laterally. Dorsalfin is small and set approximately two-thirds the distance between tip of the beak and end of the tail. Coloration is typically dark brown, dark gray, or black on top and paler underneath. Rostrum and lowerjaw form a long, well-defined beak, and there are two grooves on the throat. Adult males have two triangular tusks midway along the lower jaw that stick up alongside the upperjaw. Tusks can become heavily worn in older males, and they do not erupted in juveniles and adult females. Adult males may also have many long pale scars that are caused by the tusks of other males during male-male combat. Habitat. Generally restricted to water depths greater than 200 m. Most sightings of Sowerby’s Beaked Whales are associated with areas of complex seabed topography, such as shelf edges, canyons, seamounts, and oceanic islands, but they may also occur in other oceanic habitats. Distribution of Sowerby’s Beaked Whaleis restricted to cooler waters, and most ...