Body to 10 m. or more, long. 



Body black or dark gray; area of gray shading on each side just in 



front of and below dorsal fin. 

 Flippers have transverse white band. 

 Head very sharply V-shaped when viewed from above. 

 Dorsal fin falcate and distinct; usually appears simultaneously with blow. 

 Blow often low and mdistinct. 



Distribution polar, temperate, and tropical; frequently coastal. 

 Often curious about boats. 

 Flukes not raised on dive. 



MiNKE Whale 



Baketioplera aculorostrala (A) 



Body to 1 5 m long. 



Body slate gray to army brown to black, with white blotches on the 



undersides. 

 Forehead prominent and bulging, sloping to long cylindrical beak. 

 Dorsal fin nearly triangular, in last one-third of back. 

 Distribution central Baja California north to Bering Sea. 

 Flukes large, rarely notched; occasionally raised on long dive. 



Baird's Beaked Whale 

 Btrardius bairdii (A) 



Body to estimated 7 to g m. 



Body acorn to umber brown on back — sometimes scarred. 



Belly lighter; head fla.ven. 



Forehead bulbous; beak long. 



Dorsal fin falcate, not triangular, located behind middle of back. 



Distribution tropical-equatorial. 



Flukes often raised on dive. 



^. 



(SOUTHERJMj BOTTLENOSE WhaLE 

 Hypcroodon sp. (T) 



Body to at least 7 m long. 



Body from dark gray or brown to rust or fawn and splotched with 



white; eyes dark. 

 Head, and sometimes entire body, of large males white. 

 Back frequently scarred with numerous scratches, presumably tooth rakes 

 Dorsal fin falcate and/or triangular, in last one-third of back. 

 Distribution primarily tropical and subtropical; extends to 



temperate and subarctic waters. 

 Flukes light beneath, sometimes shallowly notched; often raised on dive. 



Cuvter's Beaked Whale 



Ziphius cavirostm(E) 



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