Females vary in color from dark gray to a reddish-brown. This light coloration extends along the posterior. The body of adult males is typically a dark gray, with their head being distinctly lighter, or even white. Males and females tend to be similar in size. The body of Cuvier's beaked whale is robust and cigar-shaped, similar to those of other beaked whales, and can be difficult to distinguish from many of the mesoplodont whales at sea.
Rostral ossification of the prenarial basin. Ĭuvier's beaked whale is one of 22 species in the family Ziphiidae and the only member of the genus Ziphius. Later, in 1850, paleontologist and zoologist Paul Gervais found the skull to be identical with that of a whale carcass more recently stranded on a beach. Ĭuvier believed the skull represented the remains of an extinct species, and chose the genus name Ziphius to reflect an undetermined species mentioned by historical authors. He named it Ziphius cavirostris from the Latin cavus for "hollow" or "concave", referring to the prenarial basin, a deep hollow in the skull which is now known to be found only in males of this species. įrench naturalist and zoologist Georges Cuvier first described the species in Recherches sur les ossements fossiles ("Research on Fossil Bones", 1823) based on a skull collected on the Mediterranean coast of France at Fos-sur-mer, Bouches de Rhone in 1804. It is now known to be unique to males of this species. The species name cavirostris from Latin cavus "hollow" and rostrum "beak", refers to a bony structure (cavity) anterior of the nares (the bones of the nose), now known as the prenarial basin. He reused the genus name Ziphius from an undetermined species mentioned by historical sources. The species was named Ziphius cavirostris by Georges Cuvier, based on a skull fragment which he believed to be a fossil from an extinct species. Despite its deep water habitat, it is one of the most frequently spotted beached whales. It has the deepest and longest recorded dives among whales at 9,816 feet (2,992 m) and 222 minutes respectively, though the frequency and reasons for these extraordinary dives are unclear.
Cuvier's beaked whale is pelagic, inhabiting waters deeper than 1,000 feet (300 m). It is smaller than most baleen whales yet large among beaked whales. The Cuvier's beaked whale or goose-beaked whale ( Ziphius cavirostris) is the most widely distributed of all beaked whales in the family Ziphiidae.
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