……objective science for conservation…….

The Pacific WildLife Foundation is a non-profit coastal and marine research and education society  that inspires an appreciation for objective scientific research and conservation of the ocean. We conduct original research, develop novel education programs, and inspire an appreciation for conservation of the ocean. 

Stejneger’s Beaked Whale Mesoplodon stejnegeri

Stejneger’s beaked whale is an inhabitant of the cool temperate and subarctic North Pacific Ocean (Wilson and Ruff 1999). There are only about 50 known records of this species of which 31 are from Alaska (Wilson and Ruff 1999). Cowan and Guigeut (1965) mention stranded animals or skulls from 7 locations in British Columbia. In Alaska, this species occurs in the deep waters of the south-west Bering Sea and might occur over deep canyons that penetrate the Bering Sea shelf (Perez 1990). It is a deep water specialist that ranges from the Aleutians to southern California and Japan. Like other members of the toothed whale family, male Stejneger’s beaked whales have teeth at the ends of the lower jaw.  

 Stejneger’s Beaked Whale Distribution Map

References

Cowan, I. McTaggart and C. J. Guiguet. 1965. The mammals of British Columbia. British Columbia Provincial Museum handbook No. 11, Victoria, BC, Canada.

Perez, M.A. 1990. Review of marine mammal and prey population information for Bering Sea ecosystem studies. NOAA technical memorandum NMFS F/NWC-186, Washington DC, USA.

Subramanian, A, S., Tanabe, and R. Tatsukawa. 1988. Estimating some biological parameters of Baird's beaked whales using PCBs and DDE as tracers. Marine Pollution Bulletin 19: 284-287.

Wilson, D. and S. Ruff. 1999. Smithsonian book of North American mammals. UBC Press, Vancouver.