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Researchers hoping to make the first confirmed live sighting of a beaked whale species in western Mexico say they have instead seen what they believe to be a completely unknown species.
“We saw something new. Something that was not expected in this area, something that does not match, neither visually nor acoustically, with everything that is known to exist, ”said marine mammal researcher Dr. Jay Barlow.
“It just sends shivers down my spine when I think we could have accomplished what most people would say is really impossible: find a large mammal that exists on this earth that is totally unknown to science.”
Sea Shepherd / CONANP
Researchers have found what they believe is an unknown species of beaked whale off the western coast of Mexico.
The investigators were aboard the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship. Martin Sheen, when they saw three beaked whales emerging about 100 miles north of Mexico’s San Benito Islands on November 17.
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They photographed and videotaped the animals and recorded their acoustic signals. Environmental genetic samples were collected and were expected to confirm that the whales were a new species, Sea Shepherd said.
The researchers had been looking for Perrin’s beaked whales, which were among 23 known beaked whale species but for which there were no confirmed live sightings. The size of Perrin’s population and its range were unknown.
Sea Shepherd / CONANP
The new suspect species was found while researchers were searching for another beaked whale for which there is no confirmed live sighting.
An unidentified acoustic signal, first detected off the coast of California and then again in 2018 north of the San Benito Islands, was thought to possibly have come from a Perrin whale, Sea Shepherd said.
The animals seen during the recent trip were beaked whales, but did not belong to Perrin’s species or any other known species.
The acoustic signal emitted by the new suspect species was different from the previously recorded signal that was thought to be from a Perrin’s whale and was no other sound known to science, Sea Shepherd said.
Sea Shepherd / CONANP
The acoustic signal of the new species is not a sound known to science.
“We thought we had an expedition to find an animal, but what we saw was even more surprising,” Barlow said. He is an adjunct professor of biological oceanography at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, based in San Diego, United States.
Unknown species of beaked whales seen during the voyage emerged near the ship. “And then they came to us; two, three times they returned to the ship. They were investigating the hydrophone we put in the water.
“It was the most amazing beaked whale encounter I have ever had,” Barlow said.
