VASCO
During the marine mammal survey undertaken onboard vessel MFV Yellow fin attached to Mormugao Base of Fishery Survey of India (FSI), two female Blainville's beaked whales were sighted for the first time from Indian Exclusive Economic Zone last month.
A press release issued by FSI Goa Zonal Director Dr S Ramachandran said the common name of the family, beaked whales, refers to their distinct beak.
"Blainville’s or Dense-Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) is one of the rarer species of the genus Mesoplodon. It has been reported from South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Australia, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, and Japan. But so far, no authenticated report on the occurrence of the species from India. This is the first confirmed sighting record for this species in the Indian seas," stated the press note.
"Arshad PR, Young Professional, Mormugao Base of FSI, has sighted and taken photographs of the movements of this rare deep-sea whale while surfacing in the depth area of 1400m off Mangalore coast, Arabian Sea, India. Blainville’s beaked whales were found preferentially in waters of depths between 200 and 1400 m. Squid and small fishes are the main food items. The maximum size of the Blainville beaked whale reported was 4.7 m length and weight 1033 kg. The adult male has tusks that extend above the head.
"But female lacks the tusks. The species generally dive up to 1400 m depth and remain there for 54 minutes and very few seconds only it comes to surface for breathing. Therefore, sighting of the species is very rare.”
This observation was made as a part of the on-going PMMSY project entitled “Marine Mammal Stock Assessments in India'' funded by the DoF, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Govt of India to Fishery Survey of India.
Dr R Jeyabaskaran, Director General, FSI, Mumbai, is the Principal Investigator of the project and he has identified the species.
