About This Species

The rarest beaked whale species, known from only six confirmed specimens since 1872 (five from New Zealand, one from Chile). Estimated to reach 5.0-5.5m length based on skull size, with extremely large spade-shaped teeth (23cm) in males. Never definitively observed alive, so behavior and ecology are unknown but presumed similar to other Mesoplodon species. The 2010 mother-calf pair provided first external appearance data showing dark grey/black dorsally, white ventrally.