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Hubb’s Beaked Whale
Mesoplodon carlhubbsi
The North
Pacific Ocean has its own endemic beaked whale – Hubb’s beaked
whale. It is a relative new comer as a species being
identified in 1945 and named in 1963 to honour Carl Hubbs of
the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. This denizen of the
deep is slate gray with many scarring marks. It ranges from
Japan to British Columbia south to southern California (Reeves
et al. 2002). The prey of this whale is squid and fish.
Precious little else is known about this species;
Houston (1990) states that it is known from a
few stranded specimens and one possible live sighting.
Hubb’s Beaked Whale Distribution Map
References
Connor, R.C.,
J. Mann, P. L. Tyack and H. Whitehead. 1998. Social evolution
in toothed whales. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 13:
228-232.
Houston J. 1990. Status of Hubbs' beaked whale, Mesoplodon
carlhubbsi, in Canada. Canadian Field Naturalist 104:
121-124.
Reeves, R. R., B. Stewart, P. Clapham and J.
Powell. 2002. Guide to marine mammals of the world. Alfred A.
Knopf, New York.
Wilson, D. and
S. Ruff. 1999. Smithsonian book of North American mammals. UBC
Press, Vancouver.
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