African Marine Mammals

Gray's beaked whale

Mesoplodon grayi

by: Dagmar Fertl

The name:

The word Mesoplodon is from the Greek mesos for "middle", hopla for "arms" and odon for "tooth". These words in combination roughly translates to "armed with a tooth in the middle of the jaw". This species was also named after the former Director of the British Museum, J.E. Gray.

The look:

This beaked whale has a small head, with an extremely long, narrow beak. The teeth are relatively small and triangular, near the middle of the beak. The Gray's beaked whale is mostly gray, with white patches found in the genital region and beak becoming white in adults.

The size:

The maximum known size is 5.6 m reaching a weight of up to 1100 kg.

Location in Africa:

The only records of this species in African waters are off of South Africa.

Interesting facts:

Very little is known about this species except that it often sticks its beak out of the water as it surfaces to breathe.

Human impacts:

Human impacts in African waters are unknown.

IUCN Status:

Insufficiently known.

To learn more about Gray's beaked whales try these sources:

Jefferson, T.A. Leatherwood, S. and M.A. Webber. 1994. FAO Species Identification Guide, Marine Mammals of the World. FAO of the United Nations, Rome.

Leatherwood, S. and R.R. Reeves. 1987. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. Sierra Club Books, San Fransisco.

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