First Record of the Rare Beaked Whale, Mesoplodon europaeus, Gervais, from the West Indies

Abstract

ON February 21, 1953, two small female whales came close inshore in Bull Bay, in the parish of St. Thomas, Jamaica, and were beached by local fishermen. I had the opportunity of examining them some eight and a half hours later, through the courtesy of Mr. A. Thomas, the Government fisheries officer. Preliminary investigation showed that they belonged to the group of beaked whales, and it was thought that they might be true two-toothed whales although the teeth were neither visible nor could they be felt through the gums. Upon removal of the flesh and examination of the skulls, the specimens were tentatively identified as Mesoplodon europaeus, Gervais, on the basis of the key to the species of Mesoplodon given by Raven¹. Dr. Remington Kellogg of the Smithsonian Institution, U.S. National Museum, very kindly examined photographs of both the intact animals and the prepared skulls and confirmed this identification.