Common names of whales and renaming Ziphius cavirostris
Robin W. Baird
Should common names for whales and dolphins named after people be changed? The binomial scientific names (e.g., Hyperoodon ampullatus) given to species of all animals follow the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, which was established to encourage universal and stable names and ensure that each taxon has a unique name. Scientific names remain the same regardless of language – Hyperoodon ampullatus is recognized as the same species of beaked whale everywhere it is found[1]. But common, or vernacular, names, what we refer to species in day-to-day life, are different. For one, they vary with language – for Hyperoodon ampullatus common names include northern bottlenose whale (English), andarnefja (Icelandic), botinhoso (Portuguese), and butskop (Dutch, for “bump head”). But importantly, at least in the case of whales and dolphins, common names evolve from a community of people who adopt or promote them – “Bigg’s killer whale” is a good example of this. Many individuals, both from the scientific community and the general public, began using “Bigg’s killer whale” as the English common name for a type of mammal-eating killer whale found in the nearshore waters of the eastern North Pacific, honoring Michael Bigg, a pioneer in the study of killer whales in general and that population in particular. It was many years after the name was adopted among the community of researchers and killer whale-loving public that Bigg’s killer whale was described as a new species (Orcinus rectipinnus) by Morin et al. (2024). As noted by the Committee on Taxonomy of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, “common names are arbitrary and change with time and place”.
There have been some attempts over the years to try to encourage changing the common names of some recognized species. One example from a book on whales and dolphins I picked up in the mid-1980s, when I was first getting involved with marine mammals, was Lyall Watson’s (1981) “Sea Guide to Whales of the World”. He used “Gulf Porpoise” instead of vaquita (Phocoena sinus), “Unicorn Whale” instead of narwhal (Monodon monoceros), “Estuarine Dolphin” instead of Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), and “Spray Porpoise” instead of Dall’s porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli), among others. Needless to say, these didn’t catch on.
Many species of whales and dolphins were described long ago and the common names used were often names of individuals, sometimes those that played a role in their original description or recognition, and sometimes to honor colleagues. Such eponymous names (i.e., something named after a person) have received a lot of attention in the last year, particularly after the American Ornithological Society announced they were doing away with all eponymous names for birds within the AOS’s area (i.e., Canada and the United States). When new species of whales or dolphins are described, the authors often suggest common names, and most new species described in recent years have been named after researchers. Perrin’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon perrini) was named in 2002 to honor William F. Perrin, a pioneering marine mammalogist that collected two of the known specimens (Dalebout et al. 2002). Deraniyagala’s beaked whale (M. hotaula) was originally described as a new species by Sri Lankan scientist Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala in 1963. It was quickly lumped with ginkgo-toothed beaked whales (M. ginkgodens), but genetic work 50 years later showed that it was actually distinct, and the authors of that study (Dalebout et al. 2014) suggested the common name Deraniyagala’s beaked whale in his honor. In 2021 a new species of beaked whale was described from the southern hemisphere (M. eueu), and the authors of that description (Carroll et al. 2021) suggested the common name Ramari’s beaked whale, to honor Ramari Stewart, a Māori whale expert who helped prepare the holotype skeleton.
Another eponymous name is Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), although this species has also been referred to both recently and in the past as the goose-beaked whale (e.g., Hansen and Weaver 1963; Lehman et al. 1980; Ellis and Mead 2017). This species has been the subject of extensive research in the last 20 years, as it appears to be more sensitive to high-intensity underwater sounds, such as military mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS), than any other species of whale or dolphin (Bernaldo de Quirós et al. 2019). At an April 2024 meeting of marine mammal scientists studying the effects of MFAS on whales and dolphins, Andy Read from Duke University presented a very convincing argument that researchers should drop the common name “Cuvier’s beaked whale” and instead use goose-beaked whale. In a letter recently accepted for publication in the journal Marine Mammal Science, Read and colleagues outline some details of Georges Cuvier’s history, noting he played a “foundational role in creating and disseminating scientific racism”. That letter will be published soon, so I won’t repeat the details, but they will likely convince most English-speaking marine mammal scientists to adopt goose-beaked whale for Ziphius cavirostris.
The question then remains whether alternative or new names for other species of whales or dolphins with eponymous English-language common names should be proposed or promoted. I believe this should be done on a case-by-case basis, rather than a blanket approach as done by the American Ornithological Society. I suspect there are other species of whales or dolphins with common eponymous names that should also be changed, but many recent proposed common names (e.g., Ramari’s beaked whale, Bigg’s killer whale) should be retained to honor those that played a major role in their science.
References
Bernaldo de Quirós, Y., A. Fernandez, R.W. Baird, R.L. Brownell, N. Aguilar de Soto, D. Allen, M. Arbelo, M. Arregui, A. Costidis, A. Fahlman, A. Frantzis, F.M.D. Gulland, M. Iñiguez, M. Johnson, A. Komnenou, H. Koopman, D.A. Pabst, W.D. Roe, E. Sierra, M. Tejedor, and G. Schorr. 2019. Advances in research on the impacts of anti-submarine sonar on beaked whales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 286:20182533. http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.2533
Carroll, E.L., M.R. McGowen, M.L. McCarthy, F.G. Marx, N. Aguilar, M.L. Dalebout, S. Dreyer, O.E. Gaggiotti, S.S. Hansen, A. van Helden, A.B. Onoufriou, R.W. Baird, C.S. Baker, S. Berrow, D. Cholewiak, D. Claridge, R. Constantine, N.J. Davison, C. Eira, R.W. Fordyce, J. Gatesy, G.J.G. Hofmeyr, V. Martin, P.A. Morin, C. Reyes, E. Rogan, M. Rosso, M.A. Silva, M.S. Springer, D. Steel, and M.T. Olsen. 2021. Speciation in the deep: genomics and morphology reveal a new species of beaked whale Mesoplodon eueu. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 288: 20211213. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1213
Dalebout, M.L., J.G. Mead, C.S. Baker, A.N. Baker, and A.L. van Helden. 2002. A new species of beaked whale Mesoplodon perrini sp. n. (Cetacea: Ziphiidae) discovered through phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Marine Mammal Science 18(3):577-608. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2002.tb01061.x
Dalebout, M.L., C.S. Baker, D. Stel, K. Thompson, K.M. Robertson, S.J. Chivers, W.F. Perrin, M. Goonatilake, R. Charles Anderson, J.G. Mead, C.W. Potter, L. Thompson, D. Jupiter, and T.K. Yamada. 2014. Resurrection of Mesoplodon hotaula Deraniyagala 1963: a new species of beaked whale in the tropical Indo-Pacific. Marine Mammal Science 30(3):1081-1108. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12113
Ellis, R., and J.G. Mead. 2017. Beaked whales: a complete guide to their biology and conservation. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. https://doi.org/10.1353/book.52552
Hansen, K.L., and H.F. Weaver. 1963. Another Florida record of the goose-beaked whale. Journal of Mammalogy 44(4):575. https://doi.org/10.2307/1377143
Lehman, L.D., B.N. Jones, F.E. Dwulet, R.A. Bogardt, and F.R.N. Gurd. 1980. Complete amino acid sequence of the major component myoglobin from the goose-beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 625(2):221-229.
Morin, P.A., M.L. McCarthy, C.W. Fung, J.W. Durban, K.M. Parsons, W.F. Perrin, B.L. Taylor, T.A. Jefferson, and F.I. Archer. 2024. Revised taxonomy of eastern North Pacific killer whales (Orcinus orca): Bigg’s and resident ecotypes deserve species status. Royal Society Open Science 11:231368. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231368.
Watson, L. 1981. Sea guide to whales of the world. E.P. Dutton, New York.
[1] For those wishing more information on the history of scientific names applied to whales and dolphins, I would recommend Jefferson (2021), Nomenclature of the dolphins, porpoises, and small whales: a review and guide to the early taxonomic literature.