by: Dagmar Fertl
The word Mesoplodon is from the Greek mesos for "middle", hopla for "arms" and odon for "tooth". These words in combination roughly translates to "armed with a tooth in the middle of the jaw". This animal is also named after the Latin word for "beautiful", mirus.
These whales look much like other mesoplodonts except that they have a prominent beak and slightly bulging forehead. The adult males have teeth at the very tip of the lower jaw.
This whale species grows to slightly over 5 m, weighing up to 1400 kg.
The True's beaked whale is known from Southeast Africa.
Very little is known about this species except that it feeds on squid.
Human impacts in African waters are unknown.
Insufficiently known.
Jefferson, T.A. Leatherwood, S. and M.A. Webber. 1994. FAO Species Identification Guide, Marine Mammals of the World. FAO of the United Nations, Rome.
Leatherwood, S. and R.R. Reeves. 1987. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. Sierra Club Books, San Fransisco.
Kitchener A C. Herman J S. Re-identification of the supposed True's beaked whale Mesoplodon mirus from Scotland. Journal of Zoology (London) 236 (2). 1995. 353-357.
Tove M. Live sighting of Mesoplodon cf. M. mirus, true's beaked whale. Marine Mammal Science 11 (1). 1995. 80-85.
Marine Mammal Stranding Center
URL for this page: http://csiwhalesalive.org/csitrues.html