A team of scientists working near the west coast of Mexico believe that they have stumbled upon a previously unknown species of whale.
On November 17, the researchers, who are working with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, spotted three beaked whales breaching in nearby waters while they were aboard the Sea Shepherd vessel Martin Sheen.
Scientists and conservationists capture footage of an unidentified whale species in the waters north of the San Benito Islands. Picture: Sea Shepherd/Elizabeth Henderson.
The sighting took place about 160 kilometres north of Mexico’s San Benito Islands, which are a group of isolated islands nearly 500 kilometres from the United States border.
The expedition was lead by renowned beaked whale researchers Dr Gustavo Cárdenas Hinojosa, Dr Jay Barlow and Dr Elizabeth Henderson. Their mission was to identify a beaked whale species that had been associated with an unidentified acoustic signal previously recorded in the area.
The researchers and Sea Shepherd crew managed to record the animals in photographs and videos and captured their acoustic signals by using a specialised underwater microphone.
The experts are extremely confident that the acoustic and photographic evidence they gathered reveals the presence of a new species of whale.
Possibly a new species of Beaked whale. Picture: Sea Shepherd/Simon Ager
‘We saw something new. Something that was not expected in this area, something that doesn’t match, either visually or acoustically, anything that is known to exist,’ said Dr Jay Barlow in a press release.
‘It just sends chills up and down my spine when I think that we might have accomplished what most people would say was truly impossible – finding a large mammal that exists on this earth that is totally unknown to science.’
The team also conducted environmental genetic sampling, at the time of the sighting, which is currently undergoing analysis. They expect it to definitively prove the existence of this new species.
All cetaceans emit a distinct acoustic echo underwater that is unique to each species and can be used to reliably identify the different types of beaked whales that frequent the area.
Pictures: Sea Shepherd
