In a thoroughly explored world, sometimes there are new discoveries to be made, including a 24-foot long mammal we seem to have missed until recently. Scientists report that a dead whale that washed up on the shores of an Alaskan island may in fact be a new species.
The carcass that beached near the Pribilof Islands community of St. George in June of 2014 appeared to be a beaked whale, but didn't quite match the two recognized species in the genus Berardius that includes Baird's and Arnoux's beaked whales. Tissue samples were sent to Phillip Morin, a research molecular biologist at NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center, for genetic testing that eventually showed it to be a new species.
"Clearly this species is very rare, and reminds us how much we have to learn about the ocean and even some of its largest inhabitants," Morin said in a release.
Documenting the new species proved tricky for researchers, but an exhaustive search of 178 beaked whales revealed eight existing specimens were actually examples of the new species. Among other places, the specimens come from the Smithsonian Institution and Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and include a skeleton on display in Unalaska high school in Alaska, as well as the carcass from St. George.
The evidence for the new species is laid out in a paper published this week in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
"Taken together, genetic evidence from specimens in Japan and across the North Pacific, combined with evidence of smaller adult body size, indicate presence of an unnamed species of Berardius in the North Pacific," the paper reads.
Beaked whales are among the least known types of whales. They have beaks like dolphins and can dive thousands of feet to the dark depths of the ocean feeding on squid and bottomdwellers. Several other species of beaked whales have only been identified in recent years. Whale hunts for Baird's beaked whales are common in Japan.
"The implication of a new species of beaked whale is that we need to reconsider management of both species to be sure they're sufficiently protected, considering how rare the new one appears to be," said paper co-author Erich Hoyt, a research fellow with Whale and Dolphin Conservation in the United Kingdom and co-director of the Russian Cetacean Habitat Project. "Discovering a new species of whale in 2016 is exciting but it also reveals how little we know and how much more work we have to do to truly understand these species."
