Rare sighting of Blainville’s beaked whales off Mangaluru coast

PANAJI: Two female Blainville’s beaked whales or Mesoplodon densirostris were sighted for the first time in the Indian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) recently during the marine mammal survey undertaken onboard vessel — MFV Yellow Fin — attached to the Mormugao base of the Fishery Survey of India (FSI).
“This is the first confirmed sighting record for this species,” said S Ramachandran, zonal director, FSI Goa.
“Blainville’s beaked whales were found preferentially in waters of depths between 200 and 1,400m. The species generally dive up to 1,400m depth and remain there for 54 minutes and come to the surface for breathing only for very few seconds. Therefore, sightings of the species are very rare,” he said.
It is one of the rarer species of the genus Mesoplodon, he said.
Arshad PR, a young professional from the base, sighted the deep-sea whale and photographed its movements while it was surfacing in the depth area of 1,400m off the Mangaluru coast, Arabian Sea. The maximum size of the whale reported was 4.7m length and weight 1,033kg.
The observation was made as part of the ongoing PMMSY project entitled ‘Marine Mammal Stock Assessments in India’, funded by the Union ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying and FSI.
Squid and small fish are the main food items. Blainville’s beaked whales have a medium-sized, round body with a small, wide-based, slightly hooked dorsal fin located far down it’s back. They also have a low, sloping, indistinct forehead. Their colouration varies from dark-grey to brownish and bluish. The animal’s face and underside are pale grey or white.
There is little information on the abundance of Blainville’s beaked whales worldwide, though they are considered to have the most extensive distribution of any whale in the Mesoplodon genus.