The southern bottlenose whale (''Hyperoodon planifrons'') is a species of whale, in the ziphiid family, one of two members of the genus ''Hyperoodon''. Seldom observed, the southern bottlenose whale is resident in Antarctic waters. The species was first described by English zoologist

William Henry Flower Sir William Henry Flower (30 November 18311 July 1899) was an English surgeon, museum curator and comparative anatomist, who became a leading authority on mammals and especially on the primate brain. He supported Thomas Henry Huxley in an ...

in 1882, based on a water-worn skull from Lewis Island, in the Dampier Archipelago,

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. They live in deep ocean waters over 1000 meters.

Taxonomy

No subspecies of the southern bottlenose whale are named (Mead 1989). A mtDNA study of two southern bottlenose whales from different regions of New Zealand was conducted and found that mtDNA differed 4.13%, which is higher than the interspecific variation of 2% found in other beaked whales (Dalebout et al., 1998). Intraspecific coloration variation may be due to genetics; however, variation based on geographical location is not ruled out (Van Waerebeek et al., 2005).

Description

The southern bottlenose whale measures 7.5 m (25 ft) in length when physically mature, considerably smaller than the northern bottlenose whale. The beak is long and white in males but grey in females. The dorsal fin is relatively small at 30–38 cm (12–15 in), set behind the middle of the back, falcate (sickle-shaped), and usually pointed. The back is light-to-mid grey. It has a lighter underside. There is currently no evidence to support sexual dimorphism in coloration (Van Waerebeek et al., 2005). More data need to be collected to understand if coloration differences are individualized or based on geographic range (Van Waerebeek et al., 2005).

Geographic range and distribution

The southern bottlenose whale has a circumpolar distribution in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. It is found as far south as the Antarctic coast and as far north as the tip of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

and the southern parts of

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Sightings of bottlenose whales in tropical and subtropical waters were likely not of southern bottlenose whales; rather they were of a poorly known species, Longman's beaked whale.

Behavior

Dive times range from 15-40 mins, which is a long dive time relative to other cetaceans (Barlow and Sexton, 1996), and occur in small group sizes between 1-5 individuals. The southern bottlenose whale feed mainly on

squid A squid (: squid) is a mollusc with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight cephalopod limb, arms, and two tentacles in the orders Myopsida, Oegopsida, and Bathyteuthida (though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also ...

and

krill Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order (biology), order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian language, Norwegian word ', meaning "small ...

. A study of stomach contents revealed that squid in the stomach of the southern bottlenose whale were mostly Antarctic squid species, followed by South African squid species (Sekiguchi et al., 1993).

Population status

The global population is unknown. Population estimates are lacking; however, southern bottlenose whales accounted for more than 90% of ziphiid sightings in the Antarctic circle (Kasamatsu et al., 1988).

Threats

The biggest threat to the southern bottlenose whale has been whaling (Mitchell, 1975). Soviet whalers took a few specimens for research (Tomilin and Latyshev, 1967), and Japanese whalers took 42 specimens (Kasamatsu et al., 1988).

Conservation

A whale sanctuary in the Southern Ocean was created in 1994 by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This prohibited whaling in the Southern Ocean. Forty-two southern bottlenose whales were caught in the Antarctic by Soviet whalers between 1970 and 1982. In addition, the southern bottlenose whale is covered by the Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region. (Pacific Cetaceans MOU). Currently the IUCN status is Least Concern.

Specimens

MNZ MM002233 Southern bottlenose whale ''Hyperoodon planifrons''
collected from peninsula at entrance to Ohiwa lagoon, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand on 2 April 1996.

In Media

The vocal and piano duo Flanders and Swann recorded a humorous song, "The Whale (Mopy Dick)". The lyrics specify that they intend the bottlenose whale, in Antarctic waters.

Notes

References

*''Bottlenose Whales'' in the ''Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals'' Shannon Gowans, 1998. *''National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World'' Reeves et al., 2002. . *''Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises'' Carwardine, 1995. * * Van Waerebeek K., K. Findlay, G. Friedrichsen, and P. Best. 2005. Bold colouration pattern in southern bottlenose whales, a preliminary assessment of external variation. Ulsan, Korea: IWC Scientific Committee Meeting. * Sekiguchi, Keiko, N. Klages, and K. Findlay. 1993. Feeding habits and possible movements of southern bottlenose whales Hyperoodon planifrons. 14th Symposium on Polar Biology. 84-97. * Dalebout, Merel L., A. Van Helden, K. Van Waerebeek, and C. Scott Baker. 1998. Molecular genetic identification of southern hemisphere beaked whales (Cetacea: Ziphiidae). Molecular Ecology 7(6):687-694. * Kasamatsu, F. 1988. Distribution of cetacean sightings in the Antarctic; results obtained from the IWC/IDCR minke whale assessment cruises, 1978/79 to 1983/84. Rep. int. Whal. Comm. 38:449-487. * Mitchell, E.D. 1975. Review of biology and fisheries for smaller cetaceans. J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 32(7): 888–983. * Tomilin, A.G. and Latyshev, V.M. 1967. New data on the flat-fronted bottlenose – Hyperoodon planifrons. Mosk. Obshch. isp. Priody, Byull. Otdel. Biol. 72: 119–22. * Barlow, J. and Sexton, S., 1996. The Effect of Diving and Searching Behavior on the Probablility of Detecting Track-line Groups, Go, of Long-diving Whales During Line Transect Surveys. National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Center. * Mead, J. G. (1989). Bottlenose whales Hyperoodon ampullatus (Forster, 1770) and Hyperoodon planifrons Flower, 1882. In S. H. Ridgway & R. J. Harrison (Eds.), Handbook of marine mammals. Vol. 4: River dolphins and the larger toothed whales (pp. 309–320). London: Academic Press. 442 pp.

External links

Marine Bio: Southern Bottlenose WhalePolar Conservation Organization - information on the Bottlenose WhaleWhale & Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS)
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1147076 Ziphiids Cetaceans of the Atlantic Ocean Mammals of Argentina Mammals of Chile Cetaceans of the Pacific Ocean Mammals described in 1882