Sighting of Three Female Gervais’ Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon europaeus) from the Exuma Sound, The Bahamas

Oliver N. Shipley; Owen R. O’Sheay; Edward J. Brooks; Zachary C. Zuckerman

Sighting of Three Female Gervais’ Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon europaeus) from the Exuma Sound, The Bahamas

Oliver N. Shipley^1,*, Owen R. O’Shea¹, Edward J. Brooks¹, and Zachary C. Zuckerman¹

¹The Cape Eleuthera Institute, Eleuthera, The Bahamas. *Corresponding author.

Caribbean Naturalist, No. 32 (2016)

Abstract
Of all marine mammals, the beaked whales are one group for which very little data has been collected, largely due to their elusive foraging strategies associated with extended deep-dives. Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais’ Beaked Whale) are found throughout the northern Atlantic; however, they are only known in The Bahamas through an extremely limited number of sightings. Here we present a rare sighting of 3 female adult Gervais’ Beaked Whales from the Exuma Sound, The Bahamas.

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