Ziphius cavirostris

Description: 

Cuvier’s beaked whale is difficult to observe and is the most common beaked whale in the Bay of Biscay. Even though it is globally distributed, little is still known about the species.

 

Physical description and behaviour:

The species reaches 5.1 m to 6.9 m length and becomes almost white on the back and head with age, although some diatoms can grow on the skin especially in tropical regions, giving it a dark orange or light brown colour. It usually has some light-coloured scars on the sides and back. Its head is small and has a slightly bulbous forehead. Similarly to other beaked whales, it has a single pair of teeth located on the top of the lower jaw. These are visible in males only as they stay under the gum in females and juveniles. Its flippers are narrow and small, have pointed tips and are placed low down the sides. The dorsal fin is rather small and triangular or hooked and is located two-thirds down the back.

The species can dive for long periods of time, with a research finding a median dive duration of 59 minutes across 3680 dives (Fahlman, 2020).

 

Distribution and abundance:

The species likely occurs worldwide in warm temperate to tropical seas. It is a regular inhabitant of waters around Canaries, Madeira, the Azores but also in the western North Atlantic in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and south eastern United States. In the ASCOBANS Agreement Area is it mostly observed in the Bay of Biscay and the Iberian Peninsula. However the number of sightings have increased further north and east in Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands. The first stranding in Denmark has also now been recorded (Alstrup et al., 2021).

There is currently no abundance estimate for the species. However the SCANS-III Project estimated around 11,394 individuals of beaked whales species to live in the surveyed area (including northern bottlenose whale and all Mesoplodon species). The ObSERVE surveys also estimated the abundance of Cuvier’s beaked whales to be of 237 in summer 2016 and 765 in winter 2016-2017 (Rogan et al., 2018).

 

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ Assessment

  • LC (Least Concern) globally, last assessed in 2018
  • DD (Data Deficient) in European waters, last assessed in 2007

 

Threats:

Cuvier’s beaked whales are known to be especially sensitive to the effects of mid-frequency active sonars, which have likely resulted in mass strandings in the past.

 

Assessment information
CMS InstrumentsASCOBANS, ACCOBAMS, Western African Aquatic Mammals, Pacific Islands Cetaceans
IUCN StatusVulnerable
Geographic range
Countries France (Status: Unknown), Ireland (Status: Unknown), Portugal (Status: Unknown), Spain (Status: Unknown), United Kingdom (Status: Increase)

No pictures for Ziphius cavirostris

Common names
EnglishCuvier's Beaked Whale
Taxonomy
ClassMammalia
OrderCetacea
FamilyZiphiidae
Scientific name Ziphius cavirostris
Population size and trend
Population Size interval Size quality Estimated population size Size reference Size notes
Trend interval Trend quality Trend Trend reference Trend notes
Northern East AtlanticNone1,924 (CODA Survey), 316 (SCANS Survey)* Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the AS [more] The population size estimate is based on data collected during SCANS-II (2005) and CODA (2007) surveys. See the previous Trend Analysis document for more details. SCAN-II and CODA reports can be found in the additional notes section. *Note: the estimated population size is for the whole survey area and not just for the Northern East Atlantic. The separate estimate for this region is not available. Separate estimates for Cuvier's beaked whales by themselves were also not available from the SCANS, CODA or Trend analyses reports, so the data has been taken from a report on beaked whale that also uses the SCANS-II information.
NoneUnkown Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the AS [more]
Central East AtlanticNone1,924 (CODA Survey), 316 (SCANS Survey)* Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the AS [more] The population size estimate is based on data collected during SCANS-II (2005) and CODA (2007) surveys. See the previous Trend Analysis document for more details. SCAN-II and CODA reports can be found in the additional notes section. *Note: the estimated population size is for the whole survey area and not just for the Central East Atlantic. The separate estimate for this region is not available. Separate estimates for Cuvier's beaked whales by themselves were also not available from the SCANS, CODA or Trend analyses reports, so the data has been taken from a report on beaked whale that also uses the SCANS-II information.
NoneUnknown Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the AS [more]
Bay of BiscayNone1,924 (CODA Survey), 316 (SCANS Survey)* Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the AS [more] The population size estimate is based on data collected during SCANS-II (2005) and CODA (2007) surveys. See the previous Trend Analysis document for more details. SCAN-II and CODA reports can be found in the additional notes section. *Note: the estimated population size is for the whole survey area and not just for the Bay of Biscay. The separate estimate for this region is not available. Separate estimates for Cuvier's beaked whales by themselves were also not available from the SCANS, CODA or Trend analyses reports, so the data has been taken from a report on beaked whale that also uses the SCANS-II information.
NoneUnknown Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the AS [more]
Other details
Additional notesA SCANS-II report can be found here: http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/scans2/inner-furtherInfo.html and here http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/scans2/documents/final/SCANS-II_final_report.pdf. A CODA report can be found here: ttp://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/coda/documents/CODA_Final_Report_11-2-09.pdf. The notes in the Threat section (Related Content) refer to the level of importance needed to address causes of mortality (identified from post-mortem examinations) of cetaceans in the ASCOBANS Agreement Area. This information also comes from this report: Project Report: Review of Trend Analyses in the ASCOBANS Area (AC18_6-05_ProjectReportTrendAnalysis_Corr.pdf). Updates have been made in August 2021 as per European Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises by Peter G. H. Evans (2020) unless stated otherwise.

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