Blainville’s beaked whales in Hawai‘i

Almost a quarter of the 90 recognized species of cetaceans are beaked whales, members of the Family Ziphiidae. There are currently 23 recognized species, but several new species have been described in recent years and it is likely that more will be recognized as genetic analyses are undertaken on skeletal specimens and additional specimens are collected from stranded animals. Three species of beaked whales have been visually documented in Hawaiian waters – Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Blainville’s beaked whale, and Longman’s beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus). We’ve encountered all three species in our work off the island of Hawai‘i, and have focused much of our research attention since 2003 on studying Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales. This has included studies of diving behavior, movements, habitat use, population size, and social organization. A number of publications and reports on Blainville’s beaked whales have resulted from this work – links to pdfs of these can be found at the bottom of this page.

Blainville’s beaked whales are the 10th-most frequently encountered species in our work off Hawai‘i. They were first identified off the islands in 1961 when two individuals stranded on Midway, although our study with this population didn’t begin until 2002. Between contributed photos and our own work, our photo-identification catalog for this species spans over 30 years, and includes 350 unique IDs, many of which have long-term resightings, indicating a resident population of this species off of Hawai‘i Island. We have also collected extensive data on habitat use for this species through satellite tag deployments – to date we have data from 19 deployments, four of which also recorded dive behavior!

Blainville’s beaked whales are most frequently confused with Cuvier’s beaked whales when encountered. Click on the above graphic to download information on how to distinguish between Blainville’s and Cuvier’s beaked whales. 

Below is a slideshow featuring images of Blainville’s beaked whales from Hawai‘i. You can hover your mouse over the images for more information. 

An adult female Blainville’s beaked whale, HIMd152 in our catalog, seen on April 29, 2009. In female Blainville’s beaked whales the teeth do not erupt from the gums and the lower law is relatively straight.
A sub-adult male Blainville’s beaked whale, HIMd154 in our catalog, seen on April 29, 2009. The two teeth of this individual have not yet erupted from the gums, as they do in adult males, but the lower jaws are arching upwards, indicating a sub-adult male.
An adult male Blainville’s beaked whale, HIMd153 in our catalog, seen on April 29, 2009. The tips of the two teeth are visible above the gums – on the right tooth there are a number of purple stalked barnacles attached.
A juvenile Blainville’s beaked whale, HIMd147 in our catalog, seen on July 10, 2008. This animal has since been resighted 10 times, most recently in April 2021 by one of our contributors, Alex Lichtblau, and confirmed to be a male based on genetic analysis of a biopsy sample we took in December 2009.
Adult female Blainville’s beaked whale (HIMd025) with a deformed rostrum, July 10, 2008. This individual has been seen 17 times off the island, with sightings spanning from 1991 to 2012. For more information about rostrum deformities in beaked whales, check out the 2017 Dinis et al. paper in the references below.
Adult male Blainville’s beaked whale (HIMd020), July 10, 2008. This individual has been documented once previously off Kona, in 2003. Blainville’s beaked whales are strongly sexually dimorphic in skull morphology, with a highly arched lower jaw and teeth that erupt in the middle of the jaw. In Hawai‘i the teeth are often covered in stalked barnacles (see close-up photo below). Male Blainville’s also have extensive linear scars on the head, from fighting with other males.
Close-up of the head of an adult male Blainville’s beaked whale (HIMd020), July 10, 2008. The teeth that are erupted from the lower jaw are covered in stalked barnacles, and thus are not visible. The brownish coloration covering most of the head are likely diatoms.
To examine movements and habitat use we are using remotely-deployed satellite tags with this species, like the one above, pictured at the moment of deployment onto HIMd285 in November 2017 off O‘ahu. More information on our satellite-tagging work with beaked whales can be found in the 2009 Schorr et al. paper, published in Endangered Species Research (link in the references below).
A juvenile Blainville’s beaked whale, HIMd147 in our catalog, breaching next to an adult female on July 10, 2008. Note the ventral throat grooves, characteristic of beaked whales. The brownish patches on the belly of this animal are likely diatoms.
A juvenile Blainville’s beaked whale, HIMd149 in our catalog, with a suction-cup attached time-depth recorder, July 10, 2008. This tag remained attached for approximately 2 hours, during which time the whale made one long dive (45 minutes) to 829 m in depth. Based on the number of white oval scars (caused by cookie-cutter shark bites), we estimate this whale was 1-2 years of age.
We encountered this adult male during our October 2022 Hawaiʻi Island field project, and were able to collect a biopsy sample of this individual. While Blainville’s are not record-holding divers like Cuvier’s beaked whales, they are also long (>1 h) and deep (>1500 m) divers, and are also susceptible to the impacts of Navy sonar. Like Cuvier’s, based on our photo-ID and tagging work we know there is a small resident population off the island of Hawaiʻi.
Two Blainville's beaked whales, sighted off Hawaiʻi Island on October 18th, 2022. The white scars on these Blainville’s beaked whales are healed scars from cookie-cutter shark bites. These scars are visible for more than 20 years, making it much easier to identify individuals!
Blainville’s beaked whales sighted off Kaua‘i on August 17, 2022. The light-colored individual on the right is a juvenile, and the brownish markings on the head are a thin layer of diatoms. The individual on the left is likely an adult female, and the white oval scars are from bites from cookie-cutter sharks.
A group of Blainville’s beaked whales encountered off Hawai‘i Island on May 5th, 2021, with one individual entangled in marine debris. From GoPro footage over the side of the boat we were able to confirm the entanglement is life-threatening, preventing the individual from feeding. We notified NOAA fisheries about this individual, and worked with them to coordinate a disentanglement plan, though this individual was never resighted.
A curious juvenile Blainville's beaked whale approaching the research vessel during our Hawai‘i field project on May 3, 2021. There is a small resident population of Blainville’s off Hawai‘i island, and we recognized at least one of the individuals from this group as part of this population.
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Videos of Blainville's beaked whales in Hawai‘i

We occasionally collect video footage of Blainville’s beaked whales as part of our field work in Hawai‘i – you can view some of our videos below!

Playlist

3 Videos

References on Blainville’s beaked whales: 

  • Kratofil, M.A., A.E. Harnish, S.D. Mahaffy, E.E. Henderson, A.L. Bradford, S.W. Martin, B.A. Lagerquist, D.M. Palacios, E.M. Oleson, and R.W. Baird. 2023. Biologically important areas II for cetaceans within U.S. and adjacent waters — Hawai‘i region. Frontiers in Marine Sciences, 10:1053581. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1053581. Download PDF copy. Download supplemental file A. Download supplemental file B. Download supplemental file C.
  • Ziegenhorn, M.A., J.A. Hildebrand, E.M. Oleson, R.W. Baird, S.M. Wiggins, S. Baumann-Pickering. 2023. Odontocete spatial patterns and temporal drivers of detection at sites in the Hawaiian Islands. Ecology and Evolution 13(1):e9688. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9688. Download PDF copy
  • Onoufriou, A.B., O.E. Gaggiotti, N. Aguilar de Soto, M.L. McCarthy, P.A. Morin, M. Rosso, M. Dalebout, N. Davison, R.W. Baird, C.S. Baker, S. Berrow, A. Brownlow, D. Burns, F. Caurant, D. Claridge, R. Constantine, F. Demaret, S. Dreyer, M. Ðuras, J. Durban, A. Frantzis, L. Freitas, G. Genty, A. Galov, S.S. Hansen, A.C. Kitchener, V. Martin, A.A. Mignucci-Giannoni, V. Montano, A. Moulins, C. Olavarría, M.M. Poole, C. Reyes, E. Rogan, C. Ryan, A. Schiavi, P. Tepsich, J. Urban, K. West, M.T. Olsen, and E.L. Carroll. 2022. Biogeography in the deep: Hierarchical population genomic structure of two beaked whale species. Global Ecology and Conservation. In press.
  • Baird, R.W. 2019. Behavior and ecology of not-so-social odontocetes: Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales. Pages 305-329 in: Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of Toothed Whales and Dolphins, the Odontocetes. Edited by B. Würsig. Springer. ​ Download PDF copy
  • Mickey, S.T., R.W. Baird, and S.D. Mahaffy. 2019. Bite Me: Using Cookie-Cutter Shark Bite Scars to Estimate Age of Blainville’s Beaked Whales in Hawaiian Waters. Poster presented at the World Marine Mammal Conference, Barcelona, Spain, December 7-12, 2019. Download poster PDF
  • 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. Download PDF copy
  • Hooker, S.K., N. Aguilar de Soto, R.W. Baird, E.L. Carroll, D. Claridge, L. Feyrer, P.J.O. Miller, A. Onoufriou, G. Schorr, E. Siegal, and H. Whitehead. 2019. Future directions in research on beaked whales. Frontiers in Marine Sciences doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00514. Download PDF copy
  • ​Dinis, A., R. W. Baird, S. D. Mahaffy, V. Martín, F. Alves. 2017. Beaked whales with rostrum deformities: Implications for survival and reproduction. Marine Mammal Science DOI: 10.1111/mms.12406. Download PDF copy
  • Forney, K.A., B.L. Southall, E. Slooten, S. Dawson, A.J. Read, R.W. Baird and R.L. Brownell Jr. 2017. Nowhere to go: noise impact assessments for marine mammal populations with high site fidelity. Endangered Species Research doi: 10.3354/esr00820 Download PDF copy
  • Abecassis, M., J. Polovina, R.W. Baird, A. Copeland, J.C. Drazen, R. Komokos, E. Oleson, Y. Jia, G.S. Schorr, D.L. Webster, and R.D. Andrews. 2015. Characterizing a foraging hotspot for short-finned pilot whales and Blainville’s beaked whales off the west side of the Island of Hawai‘i with tagging and oceanographic data. PLOS ONE doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142628. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., D. Cholewiak, D.L. Webster, G.S. Schorr, S.D. Mahaffy, C. Curtice, J. Harrison and S.M. Van Parijs. 2015. Biologically important areas for cetaceans within U.S. waters – Hawai‘i region. Aquatic Mammals 41:54-64. Download PDF copy
  • Mahaffy, S.D., R.W. Baird, D.J. McSweeney, D.L. Webster and G.S. Schorr. 2015. Group structure and mating strategies of Cuvier’s (Ziphius cavirorstris) and Blainville’s (Mesoplodon densirostris) beaked whales off the island of Hawai‘i. Poster presented at the 21st Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, San Francisco, California, December 14-18, 2015. Download PDF copy
  • Foltz, K., R.W. Baird, G.M. Ylitalo and B.A. Jensen. 2014. Cytochrome P4501A1 expression in blubber biopsies of endangered false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) and nine other odontocete species from Hawai’i. Ecotoxicology. doi: 10.1007/s10646-014-1300-0. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, S.D. Mahaffy, G.S. Schorr, J.M. Aschettino and A.M. Gorgone. 2013. Movements and spatial use of odontocetes in the western main Hawaiian Islands: results of a three-year study off O’ahu and Kaua’i. Final report under Grant No. N00244-10-1-0048 from the Naval Postgraduate School Download PDF copy
  • Barlow, J., P. Tyack, M. Johnson, R.W. Baird, G.S. Schorr, R.D. Andrews, and N. Aguilar de Soto. 2013. Trackline and point detection probabilities for acoustic surveys of Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 134:2486-2496. Download PDF copy
  • Klinck, H., D.K. Mellinger, K. Klinck, N.M. Bogue, J.C. Luby, W.A. Jump, G.B. Shilling, T. Litchendorf, A.S. Wood, G.S. Schorr and R.W. Baird. 2012. Near-real-time acoustic monitoring of beaked whales and other cetaceans using a Seaglider. PLoS ONE 7:e36128. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., G.S. Schorr, D.L. Webster, S.D. Mahaffy, D.J. McSweeney, M.B. Hanson, and R.D. Andrews. 2011.Open-ocean movements of a satellite-tagged Blainville’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris): evidence for an offshore population in Hawai‘i? Aquatic Mammals 37:506-511.Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., G.S. Schorr, D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, M.B. Hanson and R.D. Andrews. 2010. Movements and habitat use of Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales in Hawai‘i: results from satellite tagging in 2009/2010. Report prepared under Order No. AB133F09SE4843 from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA. Download PDF copy
  • Faerber, M.M., and R.W. Baird. 2010. Does a lack of observed beaked whale strandings in military exercise areas mean no impacts have occurred? A comparison of stranding and detection probabilities in the Canary and main Hawaiian Islands. Marine Mammal Science doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00370x. Download PDF copy. The definitive version is available at Wiley InterScience
  • Schorr, G.S., R.W. Baird, M.B. Hanson, D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney and R.D. Andrews. 2009. Movements of satellite-tagged Blainville’s beaked whales off the island of Hawai‘i. Endangered Species Research 10:203-213. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W. 2009. Beaked whale science coming of age: progress from Hawai‘i. Whalewatcher (Journal of the American Cetacean Society) 38(1)18-22. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., G.S. Schorr, D.L. Webster, S.D. Mahaffy, D.J. McSweeney, M.B. Hanson, and R.D. Andrews. 2009.Movements of satellite-tagged Cuvier’s and Bainville’s beaked whales in Hawai‘i: evidence for an offshore population of Blainville’s beaked whales. Report prepared under Contract No. AB133F-08-SE-4534 from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla, California. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., D.J. McSweeney, G.S. Schorr, S.D. Mahaffy, D.L. Webster, J. Barlow, M.B. Hanson, J.P. Turner and R.D. Andrews. 2009. Studies of beaked whales in Hawai‘i: population size, movements, trophic ecology, social organization and behaviour. ECS Special Publication 51:23-25. Download PDF copy
  • Hooker, S.K., R.W. Baird, and A. Fahlman. 2009. Could beaked whales get the bends? Effects of diving behaviour and physiology on modelled gas exchange for three species: Ziphius cavirostris, Mesoplodon densirostris and Hyperoodon ampullatus. Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology 167:235-246. Download PDF copy.The definitive version is available at doi:10.1016/j.resp.2009.04.023.
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, G.S. Schorr, D.J. McSweeney and J. Barlow. 2008. Diel variation in beaked whale diving behavior. Marine Mammal Science 24:630-642. Download PDF copy. The definitive version is available at Wiley InterScience
  • Schorr, G.S., R.W. Baird, M.B. Hanson, D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, and R.D. Andrews. 2008. Movements of the first satellite-tagged Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales in Hawai‘i. Report prepared under Contract No. AB133F-07-SE-3706 to Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla, California. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, G.S. Schorr, and D.J. McSweeney. 2007. Diel variation in beaked whale diving behavior. Final report prepared under Contract No. AB133F-06-CN-0053 to Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, Washington, from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla, California.Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, G.S. Schorr, D.J. McSweeney and J. Barlow. 2007. Diel variation in beaked whale diving behavior: physiological limitation or predation avoidance? Talk presented at the 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Cape Town, South Africa, November-December 2007. Download PDF copy of abstract
  • Baird, R.W., D.J. McSweeney, G.S. Schorr, S.D. Mahaffy, D.L. Webster, J. Barlow, M.B. Hanson and R.D. Andrews. 2007. Site fidelity and movements of Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales at three spatial/temporal scales: combining VHF radio tracking, satellite tagging and long-term photo-identification. Presentation at the 21st Annual conference of the European Cetacean Society, San Sebastian, Spain, April 24, 2007. Download PDF copy of abstract
  • Faerber, M.M., and R.W. Baird. 2007. Does a lack of beaked whale strandings in relation to military exercises mean no impacts have occurred? A comparison of stranding and detection probabilities in the Canary and Hawaiian Islands. Talk presented at the 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Cape Town, South Africa, November-December 2007. Download PDF copy of abstract
  • Faerber, M.M., and R.W. Baird. 2007. Beaked whale strandings in relation to military exercises: a comparison between the Canary and Hawaiian Islands. Presentation at the 21st Annual conference of the European Cetacean Society, San Sebastian, Spain, April 22-27, 2007. Download PDF copy of poster
  • McSweeney, D.J., R.W. Baird and S.D. Mahaffy. 2007. Site fidelity, associations and movements of Cuvier’s (Ziphius cavirostris) and Blainville’s (Mesoplodon densirostris) beaked whales off the island of Hawai‘i. Marine Mammal Science 23:666-687. Download PDF copy. The definitive version is available at Wiley InterScience
  • Schorr, G.S., R.W. Baird, D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, M.B. Hanson, R.D. Andrews and J. Barlow. 2007.Spatial distribution of Blainville’s beaked whales, Cuvier’s beaked whales, and short-finned pilot whales in Hawai’i using dorsal fin-attached satellite and VHF tags: implications for management and conservation. Talk presented at the 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, Cape Town, South Africa, November-December 2007. Download PDF copy of abstract
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, A.D. Ligon, G.S. Schorr, and J. Barlow. 2006. Diving behaviour of Cuvier’s (Ziphius cavirostris) and Blainville’s (Mesoplodon densirostris) beaked whales in Hawai‘i. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84:1120-1128. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., G.S. Schorr, D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, and S.D. Mahaffy. 2006. Studies of beaked whale diving behavior and odontocete stock structure in Hawai‘i in March/April 2006. Report prepared under contract No. AB133F-06-CN-0053 to Cascadia Research from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, La Jolla, CA.Download PDF copy
  • Cox ,T.M., T.J. Ragen, A.J. Read, E. Vos, R.W. Baird, K. Balcomb, J. Barlow, J. Caldwell, T. Cranford, L. Crum, A. D’Amico, G. D’Spain, A. Fernández, J. Finneran, R. Gentry, W. Gerth, F. Gulland, J. Hildebrand, D. Houser, T. Hullar, P.D. Jepson, D. Ketten, C.D. MacLeod, P. Miller, S. Moore, D. Mountain, D. Palka, P. Ponganis, S. Rommel, T. Rowles, B. Taylor, P. Tyack, D. Wartzok, R. Gisiner, J. Mead, L. Benner. 2006. Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 7:177-187. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W. 2006. Hawai’i’s other cetaceans. Whale and Dolphin Magazine 11:28-31. Download PDF/files/Projects/Hawaii/Baird2006HawaiiodontocetesWDMag.pdf
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, A.D. Ligon, G.S. Schorr and J. Barlow. 2005. Diving behavior of Cuvier’s and Blainville’s beaked whales: implications for mass-strandings in relation to high-intensity sonar.Presentation at the 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals, San Diego, CA, December 2005.
  • Baird, R.W., D.L. Webster, D.J. McSweeney, A.D. Ligon and G.S. Schorr. 2005. Diving behavior and ecology of Cuvier’s (Ziphius cavirostris) and Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) in Hawai‘i. 2005. Report prepared under Order No. AB133F-04-RQ-0928 to Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NMFS, La Jolla, CA. Download PDF copy
  • Baird, R.W., D.J. McSweeney, A.D. Ligon and D.L. Webster. 2004. Tagging feasibility and diving of Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) and Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) in Hawai‘i. Report prepared under Order No. AB133F-03-SE-0986 to the Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, Volcano, HI, from the Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, La Jolla, CA, 92037 USA. Download PDF copy

All photos are copyrighted and should not be used without permission.

Updated May 2023. 

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Got photos? We have photo-ID catalogs for several Hawaiian cetacean species! If you have photos that you would be willing to share, you can learn how to submit those to us at this link, or contact us at Hawaii@cascadiaresearch.org