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Gervais' Beaked Whale

Mesoplodon europaeus

Classification

Family
Ziphiidae

Gervais's beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus), sometimes known as the Antillean beaked whale, Gulf Stream beaked whale, or European beaked whale (from which its scientific name is derived), is the most frequently stranding type of mesoplodont whale off the coast of North America. It has also stranded off South America and Africa. History of discovery Sometime between 1836 and 1841, a captain of one of the ships of the French merchant and armorer Abel Vautier came across a large animal floating at the entrance to the English Channel, its body covered by swarming gulls.

Distribution

(c) Charlotte Kirchner, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY
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Countries in the Picchu catalog
Spain · 12Brazil · 2United Kingdom · 1France