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.