#beaked whale

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RESEARCHERS UNCOVER A NEW SPECIES OF BEAKED WHALE FROM THE COAST OF JAPANA new beaked whale species

RESEARCHERS UNCOVER A NEW SPECIES OF BEAKED WHALE FROM THE COAST OF JAPAN

A new beaked whale species named Black-billed whale(Berardius minimus), which has been recognized by Hokkaido whalers for long has been confirmed. Known locally as Kurotsuchikujira 黒ツチクジラ, which means black Baird’s beaked whale, this species differs from other beaked whales by having a substantially smaller body size of physically mature individuals, proportionately shorter beak, and darker body colour.

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- Possible Black-billed whale Berardius minimus sighted in Nemuro strait. Note the short beak, dark body colour, and sparse linear scars (photo taken by Hal Sato on 21 May 2009).

Beaked whales prefer deep ocean waters and have a long diving capacity, making them hard to see and inadequately understood. Researchers still don’t know how mature Berardius minimus female look like, as no female where found yet. The diet of this species is unclear.  


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hoatsinn:

Hyperoodon ampullatus

What strange creatures. I couldn’t find any photographs of a baby bottlenose whale, so this is my artist interpretation. Genuinely want to see an actual photograph of a newly-born bottlenose whale tho

What a wonderful piece, I love those colours. Gives a real mystical feel to it.. this should be in a book or something ♥ As for the baby bottlenose whale - there are pictures!

This is what a fresh newborn looks like (photos © Vicki Thayes)

Note that there’s some discoloration due to post-mortem darkening. Here’s a cute little live baby, swimming with mom! You can really see how much more starkly marked they are than the adults, especially with their cute creamy melons (photo © Sascha Hooker)

When they get a bit older they turn to the ‘chubby baby’ phase; the neonate twofold colour pattern fades in favour of a more adult-looking plain brownish grey (photo © Gudmann on Flickr)

Note though that while they are still babies, they are already 5 metres (16.5 ft) long and weigh some two thousand kilos (4400 pounds). These guys are HUGE.

A bunch of beaked whalesI did mention I got to paint a lot of beaked whales, right? ;) After the botA bunch of beaked whalesI did mention I got to paint a lot of beaked whales, right? ;) After the bot

A bunch of beaked whales

I did mention I got to paint a lot of beaked whales, right? ;) After the bottlenose whales here are, well, the others. I thought it was nice to put them all together, really makes you appreciate the wonderful diversity within this big family (and it saves you from ‘a beaked whale a day’ for the next 1.5 weeks). There’s too many to all discuss individually but I have some favourites:

Shepherd’s beaked whale was a joy to paint as they are one of my favourites. Their markings are so beautiful, and they are also unique in being the only beaked whale to have a full set of teeth. For very long their colour pattern was unknown (and oft presumed to have this streaky pattern) until in 2006(!) their real colouration was formally described. They are a beautiful, elegant and unique looking species.

Sowerby’s beaked whale provided a similar ‘aha’ erlebnis for me. Often illustrated as a medium gray throughout (which is certainly fitting for the females) some interesting photographs of adult males showed a rather distinctive light blaze between their blowhole and dorsal fin. In some males it was very subtle, but others had almost as much contrast as a Layard’s beaked whale - I chose to illustrate something in the middle. Very interesting and something I hope will be the subject of further study. Males and females also have funny white lips.

Ramari’s beaked whale can’t be overlooked as it is the youngest member of the family: only described three months ago, in October 2021. Previously known as the southern form of the True’s beaked whale, analysis proved they were a species all of their own. Very happy to have painted this one too, as the mysterious southern True’s with their shining white peduncles always intrigued me.

And lastly, I can’t not mention Blainville’s beaked whale becausetake a closer look at that snout. Any whale whose mouth somehow ends up above their eyes is worthy of an extra look I think. And the Layard’s beaked whale because they have always been my number 1 favourite beaker.


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The Bottlenose WhalesHappy new year everyone! Sorry for the quiet, I’ve been busy finishing two big The Bottlenose WhalesHappy new year everyone! Sorry for the quiet, I’ve been busy finishing two big The Bottlenose WhalesHappy new year everyone! Sorry for the quiet, I’ve been busy finishing two big

The Bottlenose Whales

Happy new year everyone! Sorry for the quiet, I’ve been busy finishing two big projects. One of the things I loved about both of them is how many beaked whales I got to paint! I’ve never had much chance to illustrate them, so it was high time to make up for that. And what better way to start off 2022 than with some big, thick, and CHONKY bottlenose whales?

The Northern bottlenose is the biggest - adults can reach almost 10 metres in length and weigh some 6 to 7 tons! While male beaked whales are famous for their tusks, Northern bottlenoses’ are tiny. Their huge, square heads are far more prominent, and indeed this is their choice of weapon: males will use it to headbutt each other in fights. Male Southern bottlenose whales appear quite different. Their melons are smaller and more forward facing - not quite the battering ram the northerners wear - and their bodies are completely covered in rake marks, revealing a different fighting strategy. Theirs is the traditional beaked whale way of going tusk-to-tusk. It’s been said that males can bear so many scars they look almost white from a distance.

And then comes the Longman’s beaked whale - not really a bottlenose whale pur sang, but rather a namesake based on looks. They are a surprisingly recent discovery: they were only identified in the early 2000′s! Before then mysterious tales of Southern bottlenose whales in tropical waters had intrigued scientists. Longman’s beaked whale was already known, but only from two skulls. No one knew what they looked like. It wasn’t until 2003 when two stranded whales were identified through DNA, and the species’ appearance was first described. People turned to the sightings of “tropical bottlenose whales”, and concluded they were one and the same.

It is often said Longman’s look like Southern bottlenose whales: both have a light-coloured melon. However this only goes for immature Longman’s, adults look very different. Females become uniform grey, with a lighter, often orange-tinged face. Males are more of an enigma - one study observed a few ghostly light grey animals surfacing amongst a pod. They assumed these could be adult males. Sadly I can’t find any photos besides the grainy black-and-white ones this paper holds, and to my knowledge no adult male has ever stranded. So until then their appearance (and my illustration) is something of a guess. There’s still so much to learn about these animals.


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The colour-changing Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris)I’ve always had a soft spot for Cuvie

The colour-changing Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris)

I’ve always had a soft spot for Cuvier’s beaked whales, which their recent dive records only deepened. However, during the creating of their illustrations, I learned so much more about them. I thought I was familiar with their markings, and originally I had meant to paint just two: an adult male and female. Until my client corrected me that I had, in fact, painted a subadult and a young adult male, instead of the truly mature old male he’d had envisioned. And so two illustrations became four, and in the end I think they work together very nicely to show the “Cuvier gradient”. I had no idea adult females were so light-backed - I had always assumed these to be males. And the ghostly old males were an especially big surprise. Apparently this is a totally normal and common colour pattern for mature males, which is simply not often represented in illustrations of the species. Really cool to learn more about this species, so I just had to make a proper poster out of it. Hopefully you’ll find it interesting too!


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Looks like the Japanese Transients have a taste for beaked whales!06.06.2015 a group of Transients wLooks like the Japanese Transients have a taste for beaked whales!06.06.2015 a group of Transients w

Looks like the Japanese Transients have a taste for beaked whales!

06.06.2015 a group of Transients was seen off the coast of Rausu feeding on a beaked whale carcass. Most of the action seemed to take place underwater, but these two images were able to be captured at the surface.

Images by Hiroya Minakuchi


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Some more images of the recent sighting (05.27.2015) of Orca preying upon a beaked whale calf near RSome more images of the recent sighting (05.27.2015) of Orca preying upon a beaked whale calf near R

Some more images of the recent sighting (05.27.2015) of Orca preying upon a beaked whale calf near Rausu, Hokkaido.

Images via Gojira (Godzilla) Rock Tourism


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Again, thanks y’all for the support in my previous Mermay batches!
Part 1
Part 2

This week, I wanted to explore the various forms of sexual dimorphism in Merfolk, ALSO inspired by real life Biology! From the massive size of differences between male and female Blanket octopus and Angler fish to the almost non existent size difference in Oarfish and Beaked Whales!

It was also neat to explore various cultures from outside of Kara’s (The Great White from Part 1) town, for example the Narwhal and Salmon folk are northern adjacent nomadic tribes.

And unlike their IRL animals, even after pairing up or having kids, these Merfolk still get to live their lives (so the Salmon and Octopus folk get to live long lives here!)

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