The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Mesoplodon

a genus of mammals of the family Ziphiidae (beaked whales). The whales have a body length reaching 6 m; the coloration is dark, sometimes with white spots. The beak is set slightly apart from the low frontal nasal cushion. The rostrum of the skull is hard and solid, and the jaws are long and narrow. The single pair of teeth are flat and located in the front part of the lower jaw. The teeth usually do not break through the surface in females. There are 11 species; three are found in the Atlantic Ocean, three in the North Pacific, four in the southern hemisphere, and one in the tropical zone of the world’s oceans. The whales are rare and have not been studied much. They eat cephalopod mollusks and fish.

REFERENCE

Zhizn’ zhivotnykh, vol. 6. Moscow, 1971.

Mentioned in

Ziphiidae

References in periodicals archive

The estimates of g(0) by Barlow (2015) were relative to a value of 1 at a Beaufort sea state of 0 for most species or species groups considered, with the exception of the Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) and Mesoplodon spp., for which scaled absolute estimates of g(0) were determined for Beaufort sea states 0-6.

Abundance estimates of cetaceans from a line-transect survey within the U.S. Hawaiian Islands Exclusive Economic Zone

cavirostris with 2 additional beaked whales: Mesoplodon spp.

Stomach contents of a Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) stranded in Monterey Bay, California

Family Ziphiidae: only two species have been recorded in the study area and both were from Easter Island: Cuvier's (Ziphius cavirostris) and Blainville's (Mesoplodon densirostris) beaked whales.

Mamiferos marinos de la Isla de Pascua (Rapa Nui) e Isla Salas y Gomez (Motu Motiro Hiva), Chile: una revision y nuevos registros

Gerrodette, "Predicting Cuvier's (Ziphius cavirostris) and Mesoplodon beaked whale population density from habitat characteristics in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean," Journal of Cetacean Research and Management, vol.

Correcting positional errors in shore-based theodolite measurements of animals at sea

The chapters called "Scientists and students" and a nice account of a "Mesoplodon" follows.

THE LADY AND THE SHARKS

Cuvier Delfin de dientes rugosos in Lesson, 1828) 500 Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, Delfin pico de botella 1821) Phocoenidae 501 Phocoena spinipinnis Marsopa espinosa, chancho marino Burmeister, 1865 Physeteridae 502 Kogia breviceps (Blainvule, Cachalote de cabeza pequena 1838) 503 Kogia sima (Owen, 1866) Cachalote enano 504 Physeter catodon Linnaeus, Cachalote 1758 Iniidae 505 Inia geoffrensis (Blainville, Bufeo colorado 1817) Ziphiidae 506 Mesoplodon grayi Von Haast, Ballena de pico de Gray 1876 507 Mesoplodon peruvianus Reyes, Ballena de pico peruana Mead, y Van 507 Waerebeek, 1991 508 Ziphius cavirostris G.

Diversidad y endemismo de los mamiferos del Peru

Cookie-cutter shark bites have also been found in large numbers on Stejneger's beaked whales (Mesoplodon stejnegeri) beached on Adak Island; these were interpreted as evidence for migration to warmer waters (Walker and Hanson, 1999).

A white killer whale in the central Aleutians

Two species of beaked whales were confirmed: Mesoplodon densirostris and Ziphius cavirostris.

Patterns of cetacean sighting distribution in the Pacific Exclusive Economic Zone of Costa Rica based on data collected from 1979-2001

Take reduction plans currently are in effect for the harbor porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, in the Mid Atlantic and Gulf of Maine regions; large whales (Eubalaena glacialis, Megaptera novaenangliae, and Balaenoptera physalis) in the Atlantic; and the pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus; pygmy sperm whale, Kogia breviceps; sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus; humpback whale, Megaptera novaeanliae; and beaked whales (Berardius bairdii, Mesoplodon spp., Ziphius cavirostris) in the Pacific.

The National Marine Fisheries Service's National Bycatch Strategy