Berardius
Giant Beaked Whale/Arnoux and Baird’s Beaked Whales (Berardius)
Where found: Arnoux’s beaked whale Berardius arnuxii lives in cold Southern Hemisphere waters and Baird’s beaked whale Berardius bairdii is found the cold temperate waters of the North Pacific.
Description: You would not be able to see the differences between Arnoux and Baird’s beaked whales except that they live on opposite ends of the world. They grow to 10–12 m in length and up to 14,000 kg (31,000 lb). They have very long prominent beak, even by beaked whale standards. The lower jaw is longer than the upper and the front teeth are visible even when the mouth is fully closed. The melon is particularly bulbous. The body shape is slender - the girth is only 50% of length. The body is uniformly coloured and a particular individual's colour may be anything from light grey through to black. The flippers are small, rounded and set towards the front of the body. The dorsal fin similarly is small and rounded and set about three-quarters of the way along the back. Adult males and females of both species pick up numerous white linear scars all over the body as they age and may be a rough indicator of age.
- B. arnuxii is known as Arnoux's beaked whale, southern four-toothed whale, southern beaked whale, New Zealand beaked whale, southern giant bottlenose whale, and southern porpoise whale.
- B. bairdii is known as Baird's beaked whale, northern giant bottlenose whale, North Pacific bottlenose whale, giant four-toothed whale, northern four-toothed whale, and North Pacific four-toothed whale.
