new beaked whale?

[bmathison1972]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/09/americas/new-whale-species-mexico-scli-intl-scn/index.html#:~:text=New%20whale%20species%20discovered%20off%20coast%20of%20Mexico&text=Three%20beaked%20whales%20were%20spotted,a%20press%20release%20published%20Tuesday.

[callmejoe3]

Yep. I've noticed recently as well.

It doesn't surprise me a new one has been found, the entire family of Ziphiidae has been pretty obscure and they're hard to spot, and even when we do find them, it's hard to tell them apart. We've largely been reliant on stranded specimens and skulls rather than live-sightings in the middle of the ocean.

The researchers initially confused it for a Perrin's Beaked whale, which is obscure in itself. That likely means it's within the Mesoplodon genus. Mesoplodon is a very speciated genus, comprising 15 out of the 23 recognized species of beaked whale. The first mesoplodont beaked whale was a pretty late discovery in 1800 from a stranding, which was formally described in 1804 as the Sowerby's beaked whale. 7 more mesoplodonts were described in the 19th Century, 6 in the 20th, and the Perrin's beaked whale was the last one to be described in 2002. So on average, since 1800, we've kept finding a new mesoplodont species every 15 years.