North Atlantic Beaked Whale

Sowerby's beaked whale has a typical body shape for the genus, and is mainly distinguished by the male's dual teeth positioned far back in the mouth. The whale's beak is moderately long, and the melon is slightly convex. The body pattern is dark grey above with light countershading on the bottom; it frequently has cookiecutter shark bites, and (in males) scars from teeth from fighting. The whale reaches 5 metres (16 ft) in females and 5.5 m (18 ft) in males, with a weight of 1,000–1,300 kg (2,200–2,900 lb).

Sowerby's beaked whale ranges from Nantucket to Labrador in the western North Atlantic and from Madeira to the Norwegian Sea in the eastern North Atlantic. They typically range in waters 200 to 1,500 m (700 to 4,900 ft) deep. No population estimates have been made. In 1991, there were about 90 records of the species, 80 from the eastern North Atlantic and less than ten from the western North Atlantic; the majority of the records are from around the British Isles.

On 10 January 2009, a female Sowerby's beaked whale was found at the port of Fethiye on the Aegean coast of Turkey, far away from her natural habitat. The whale was successfully saved and released back to the open sea.

Like other beaked whales, Sowerby's beaked whales possess a pair of V-shaped throat grooves that are thought to facilitate suction feeding by creating negative pressure within the mouth as the tongue retracts and the throat grooves expand, drawing prey inward powerfully, like a biological vacuum cleaner. The diet of this species consists primarily of small mesopelagic and benthopelagic fish, with cephalopods accounting for a much smaller proportion. Recorded prey include Merluccius sp., cod, hake, lanternfish (Diaphus sp., Electrona risso, Bolinichthys sp., Lampanyctus sp.), ridgeheads (Melamphaes sp., Poromitra capito), barrel-eye, pearleye, silvery pout, arrowtail, black cardinalfish, bristlemouth, Guttigadus latifrons, roundhead grenadier, barracudina, Taonius pavo, Discoteuthis laciniosa, and Histioteuthis meleagroteuthis.

Sowerby's beaked whales are reclusive creatures that stay away from ships and are rarely sighted. The whales are occasionally seen in groups of up to ten individuals (males, females, and calves) and have been known to strand in groups as well.

One study from Norway suggests that mating may occur during late winter and spring. The gestation period is estimated to last approximately 12 months, and calves are born at a length of 2.1–2.7 m (6 ft 11 in – 8 ft 10 in) and a weight of around 185 kg (408 lb).

The species has been hunted infrequently by Norwegian whalers, but this has long since been abandoned. There are some deaths due to entanglement in fishing gear, but it is unlikely to be very damaging to the species. Sowerby's beaked whale is covered by the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS). The species is further included in the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia (Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU).