Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Amazing news - Entirely New Whale from Alaska!

A new species of whale has been discovered based on a body, 7.3m long, that floated ashore on the Pribilof Islands.  This is just marvelous. I follow news of new and unidentified whales all the time, and I never heard a word about this, although it's apparently known to Japanese fishers, so it must have a range that spreads to the west.    This isn't a case where someone had it in hand and decided that its features or DNA warranted a split of a known species, as was the case with Balaenoptera omurai in 2003. This species was confirmed by DNA work, which resulted in reordering of its genus, but it began with a brand-new discovery from the field, when a biology teacher called in a seal researcher he knew who said, "This is weird," and then she called in a cetologist. Other previously collected (misidentified) skeletons have been located. 

Here's the published abstract from Marine Mammal Science:

Philip A. Morin, et. al.
There are two recognized species in the genus Berardius, Baird's and Arnoux's beaked whales. In Japan, whalers have traditionally recognized two forms of Baird's beaked whales, the common “slate-gray” form and a smaller, rare “black” form. Previous comparison of mtDNA control region sequences from three black specimens to gray specimens around Japan indicated that the two forms comprise different stocks and potentially different species. We have expanded sampling to include control region haplotypes of 178 Baird's beaked whales from across their range in the North Pacific. We identified five additional specimens of the black form from the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, for a total of eight “black” specimens. The divergence between mtDNA haplotypes of the black and gray forms of Baird's beaked whale was greater than their divergence from the congeneric Arnoux's beaked whale found in the Southern Ocean, and similar to that observed among other congeneric beaked whale species. Taken together, genetic evidence from specimens in Japan and across the North Pacific, combined with evidence of smaller adult body size, indicate presence of an unnamed species of Berardius in the North Pacific.

Readers of this blog know of Dr. Robert Pitman, who's done so much work with orcas and beaked whales. Of this find, he said, "It boggles my mind to think that a large, very different-looking whale has gone unnoticed by the scientific community for so long. It sends a clear message about how little we know about what is in the ocean around us."
It does indeed. 
Wow. 
Thanks to Ron Pine for pointing me to this item. 
Photograph by Karin Holser, who helped identify the species in the field: I believe this is educational / scientific "fair use" but am endeavoring to get in touch with her to confirm permission. 

17 comments:

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

Here are more mass beaching of marine mammals in the news today.
Considering that orcas will snatch seals from beaches, it seems to me that these must often be due to orcas chasing them onto beaches. Is this considered to be a possible explanation?

http://www.reuters.com/video/2016/07/28/chile-investigates-mass-dolphin-deaths?videoId=369411477&videoChannel=1&channelName=Top+News

Matt Bille said...

It's certainly one possibility. Others include disease, following a lead animal that's lost its way, sonar tests - we've got a long way to go to figure it out.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

Bearing in mind scientific descriptions of how relentless and unavoidable the pursuit by orcas of their prey can be, doesn't this seem like the possibility most likely to be most frequent? If it is the most common cause then it indicates the best measures that can be taken to help the marine mammals. I think that discussion of this cause may be avoided for PR reasons.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

How often are those other explanations likely to account for the beachings compared with orcas? Except for disease the other two you mention would seem to only potentially explain a very small portion of the events. I suppose that since disease is readily testable, they have found very few cases explainable by disease, so by far the most likely would be orcas. Do you think that predators rarely stampede their prey? I think it is obviously the most probable explanation for most cases. What is really interesting is how this fails to be fully acknowledged.

Matt Bille said...

Hmmm... that's interesting., You're right in that some writing on the subject doesn't even mention predators. Example: http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2016/05/why-do-whales-strand-themselves
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/22377/20160517/attempting-suicide-why-whales-strand-themselves-to-death.htm

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

It's an unspoken taboo.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

They are terrified and exhausted.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

Regarding the link suggesting they attempt suicide, I think that comparing them to lemmings is a bit of a leap. That is obviously another example of a conceivable explanation that probably could only account for a small portion of the total.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

I wonder where a discussion can be found of this escape from orcas explanation considering it has the greatest probability of explaining the largest portion of the cases?

Matt Bille said...

Hmmm.... Why would it be an unspoken taboo?

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

Why would not the obvious be discussed?
Why would not the ruthlessness of the orcas be discussed?

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

If one finds I herd of ungulates dead at the base of a cliff do you not speak of predators stampeding them?

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

If you want to reintroduce wolves into the park you do not mention it.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

I do not think it is a mystery when ungulates are stampeded in the wild. It is not a satyr or a werewolf. It is a natural predator. No wants anyone to be excessively fearful of orcas. We are not their natural prey. Marine mammals are.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

There are articles on sonar and earth's magnetism as the cause I think the real mystery is why there are not major treatments of orcas as the primary cause. Wikipedia acknowledges that orcas are one cause. "In some cases predators (such as killer whales) have been known to panic other whales, herding them towards the shoreline...
Their echolocation system can have difficulty picking up very gently-sloping coastlines. This theory accounts for mass beaching hot spots..." I think that putting these two causes together tends to show that orcas are the primary cause. When they are fleeing orcas the other factors may make them more prone to error.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

It does not seem likely that factors like "gently sloping shorelines" would alone be sufficient to account for any strandings. Combined with pursuit by orcas they could.

Laurence Clark Crossen said...

I wonder how orcas are not a sufficient explanation for marine mammal strandings?