Arnoux's Beaked Whale

Kenneth Balcomb

The Arnoux's Beaked Whale, known also as the Southern Four-toothed Whale, Southern Beaked Whale, Southern Giant Bottlenose Whale, Southern Porpoise Whale, or Berardius arnuxii is 7.8 to 9.7 meters in length and weighs up to 7 to 10 tons. At birth it's weight is unknown and is a length of 4.5 meters. It has 2 pair of teeth in the front of its lower jaw that protruded outside of its mouth and it is seen in both adult males and females. With only one of the two pairs of teeth showing. Coloration is much like that of the Baird's Beaked whale, though it is smaller and can be darker gray-blue, with lighter colorations on its belly and chin. Females tend to be lighter as well. Mostly seen and found in cool temperate and polar waters, roughly south of 34 degrees south. They have been recorded to be sighted 64 degrees south of the Antartic Peninsula with most of the sighting being reported around New Zealand and Cook Strait during the spring and summer. Through fall and winter they are sighted from the Tasman Sea and neat Albatross Cordillera in the South Pacific. They are found mostly in the southern hemisphere around 34 degrees south. It is known to travel in large groups of up to 80 and they may split in small groups for short period. Their diet is mostly made up of small fish, and squid or octupus. The population size is unknown, as is what is known to threaten them.

Andrea Vanessa & Erica @ the Advanced Technologies Academy