Shepherd’s beaked whale filmed underwater for the first time
A rarely seen species of beaked whale has been filmed underwater for the first time.
Two Shepherd's beaked whales were observed together on video footage obtained via a camera deployed off the coast of Inaccessible Island, Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic.
It was the first sighting of the species here since 2002 and suggests there may be a population of the whales in the area. Shepherd's beaked whales inhabit cold, deep waters of the Southern Ocean and were first identified in 1933.
First underwater sighting of Shepherd’s beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi)
Christopher D. H. Thompson, Phil J. BouchetJessica J. Meeuwig
Marine Biodiversity Records 2019
[shariff]
Excited to see this historic footage. Well done. The type specimen of this species is part of a display of beaked whales which has just opened at Whanganui Regional Museum. George Shepherd was our curator in the 1920’s.