Southern bottlenose whale

Description

The southern pilot whale,also known as the southern bill whale ( Hyperoodon planifrons ) is a species of whale,of the zifios family,one of the two members of the genus Hyperoodon.The austral-beaked whale has rarely been observed,was rarely hunted,and is probably the most abundant whale in Antarctic waters.The species was first described by the English zoologist William Henry Flower in 1882,based on a water-worn skull he found on Lewis Island,in the Dampier archipelago,Western Australia.He is quite corpulent and is 7.5 meters long when he is an adult.Its bottle-shaped nose is long and black in the males,but gray in the females.The dorsal fin is relatively small (30-38 centimeters) and located behind the center of the back.It is stooped ( falciform ).The back is of a medium gray tone and its lower part lighter.