Figure 80. —The head ot a True's beaked whale stranded in North Carolina. Note 

 the small head, the pronounced beak, and the position of the blowhole in the 

 indentation behind the forehead. The teeth, visible above the gums only in adult 

 males, are in the position indicated by the arrow. The photo on the right shows 

 the two V-shaped throat grooves characteristic of beaked whales. {Photos from 

 U.S. National Museum, courtesy of J. G, Mead.) 





ANTILLEAN BEAKED WHALE (T) 



Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais 1855) 

 (equals M. gervaisi [DeslongchampsJ) 



Other Common Names 



Gulfstream beaked whale, Gervais' beaked whale. 



Description 



Antillean beaked whales reach a length of at least 22 feet 

 (6.7 m). They are slender in form and appear somewhat 

 laterally compressed (i.e., taller than they are wide). The 

 head is extremely small and tapers rapidly to a narrow beak. 

 The flippers are small (to about one-twelfth the body length) 

 with their origin well down on the sides of the body. The 

 dorsal fin is small, located behind the midpoint of the back, 

 and variable in shape from falcate to triangular. The flukes 

 are less than one- fifth the body length and are not notched. 



Antillean beaked whales are dark grayish black on the 

 back and sides, slightly lighter on the abdomen. The flukes 

 are dark gray above and below. 



Natural History Notes 



Antillean beaked whales are probably primarily oceanic in 

 distribution and are known to feed on squid. 



May Be Confused With 



Antillean beaked whales may be confused with any of the 

 other beaked whales though they are larger than all except 

 the northern bottlenosed whale (p. 67) and the goosebeaked 

 whale (p. 70). 



Distribution 



Antillean beaked whales have been reported stranded 

 from the latitude of Long Island, N.Y. south to Florida, 

 thence into the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. 



Stranded Specimens 



The teeth of Antillean beaked whales are located at the 

 suture of the mandible, about one-third of the way from 

 the tip of the snout to the corner of the mouth (Fig. 

 78). 



78 



