Occurrence of Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) at Guadalupe Island, Mexico, from 2006 to 2009

Abstract

Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) is the most widely distributed species of beaked whale, with a cosmopolitan distribution throughout almost all temperate, subtropical and tropical waters of the world as well as subpolar and even polar waters in some areas. Globally, it may also be the most abundant species of beaked whale within the family Ziphiidae. However, there is little information on local distribution in many areas around the world. Before 2009, no dedicated research on beaked whales occurred in Guadalupe Island. In this note, we report opportunistic sightings of Cuvier’s beaked whales recorded during a white shark research project from 2006 through 2008, and the results obtained in 2009 during a pilot study focused on the beaked whales of Guadalupe Island.

Presence of juveniles and adults of the “glass” squid Leachia dislocata (Cephalopoda: Cranchiidae) in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, northeastern tropical Pacific

“…Leachia dislocata se ha registrado en el contenido gástrico del pez espada Xiphias gladius (Preti et al, 2022), así como en el delfín rayado Stenella coeruleoalba (Perrin et al, 2008) y en el zifio de Cuvier Ziphius cavirostris (Macleod et al, 2011). Además, observaciones directas en Isla Guadalupe (Baja California, México) sobre la alimentación en aguas superficiales de una hembra de Z. cavirostris, muestran una elevada concentración de calamares L. dislocata (Cárdenas-Hinojosa et al, 2015).…”

Trends and gaps in marine mammal research from Mexico during 1998 – 2021

“…However, little or no information still exists for taxa such as the Ziphiidae family, because of their deeper water habits and diving behavior, which also makes them difficult to spot. The scarce information on these species has been mostly obtained from strandings, with the notable exception of research on Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) in Guadalupe Island, especially between 2006(Cárdenas-Hinojosa et al, 2012.…”

Future Directions in Research on Beaked Whales

“…Cuvier's beaked whales have also been the subject of intensive investigation for the last 6 years off North Carolina (Forney et al, 2017), an area with very high whale density (McLellan et al, 2018). Another Cuvier's beaked whale population has been studied off Guadalupe Island, Mexico (Cárdenas-Hinojosa et al, 2015). A reliable population of northern bottlenose whales has been studied for several summer seasons off Jan Mayen, Norway (Miller et al, 2015(Miller et al, , 2016.…”