| Southern bottlenose whale | |
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| Size comparison of a Southern Bottlenose Whale against an average human | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Ziphiidae |
| Subfamily: | Hyperoodontinae |
| Genus: | Hyperoodon Lacépède, 1804 |
| Species | |
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| Southern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon planifrons) range | |
The Southern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon planifrons) is a species of whale, in the ziphiid family, one of two members of the Hyperoodon genus. The southern bottlenose has been rarely observed, was seldom hunted, and is probably the most abundant whale in Antarctic waters.
Contents |
It is fairly rotund and measures 7.5 metres (25 ft) in length when physically mature. The melon is extremely bluff. The beak is long and white on males but grey on females. The dorsal fin is relatively small at 30–38 centimetres (12–15 in) and set behind the middle of the back. It is falcate (sickle-shaped) and usually pointed. The back is light-to-mid grey. It has a lighter underside.
Southern Bottlenose Whales feed mainly on squid and krill.
The southern bottlenose whale has a circumpolar distribution in the Southern Ocean. It is found as far south as the Antarctic coast and as north as the tip of South Africa, New Zealand's North Island and the southern parts of Brazil. The global population is unknown.
Sightings of bottlenose whales in tropical and subtropical waters belong to a poorly known species, Longman's beaked whale.
The southern bottlenose whale is not believed to be threatened by human actions. The species has seldom been hunted. Forty-two were caught in the Antarctic by Soviet whalers between 1970 and 1982.