Rare beaked whale sighting could be a world first for the species

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Researchers looking for elusive beaked whales in the South China Sea believe they spotted a pair of either the ginkgo-toothed or Deraniyagala’s beaked whale.

 Although they collected extensive observational data, they could not confirm the whales’ species without DNA samples.

The sighting is nevertheless important: Knowledge of both beaked whale species has been limited to what researchers have learned from a handful of stranded whale carcasses and unconfirmed sightings.

The encounter likely represents either the first ever live sighting of the ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens), or the first live sighting of the nearly identical Deraniyagala’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon hotaula) in the western Pacific Ocean.

On a calm, cloudy morning in May 2019, a lookout on a research vessel lowered his binoculars and shouted, “Beaked whales! Beaked whales!” As Massimiliano Rosso, one of the scientists aboard, recalls it, the research crew sprang into action, focusing nervously on their assigned tasks of photographing the whales, recording video, scribbling observations, and timing the animals’ breaths and dives.