Family Ziphiidae (Beaked Whales)

IDENTIFICATION
Goose-beaked Whales (also known as Cuvier's Beaked Whales) reach a length of about seven metres. The males are slightly smaller than the females, and calves are up to three metres at birth. This cetacean has a shorter beak than the other beaked whales, as well as a small head with a gradually sloping forehead. The dorsal fin is a curved triangle about 30 cm high and is set well back on the whale's body. Goose-beaked Whales have a pair of tiny flippers and two V-shaped throat grooves. Their colour varies from tan in younger animals to a reddish-brown in older ones. Older males have a snowy white head and extensive scarring.

MEALS, MANNERS AND MIGRATION
Goose-beaked Whales prey upon squid and deepwater fishes. They are rarely seen, and when pursued, they all submerge at once. These whales have been observed breaching, and they often raise their flukes vertically when beginning a deep dive. They can stay down well over 30 minutes and take only a short rest at the surface before diving again. Goose-beaked Whales live in warm and temperate waters of all oceans, and have been sighted as far north as the Aleutian Islands. They appear to migrate northward and southward with the seasons. Goose-beaked Whales strand themselves in shallow water more often than any other species of beaked whale.

STATUS
COSEWIC has given Goose-beaked Whale not at risk status in Canada. This species is at the northern edge of its range in British Columbia waters. It has never been commercially hunted here, and is not generally subject to threats in Canadian waters, so does not require conservation efforts.

DISTRIBUTION
Although known largely from strandings, this species appears to be widely distributed through the world's oceans except the polar seas. In the eastern Pacific it ranges as far north as Alaska. The Goose-beaked Whale is usually found in deep waters (1,000 m or more).