There
are two recognized species in the genus Berardius, Baird’s and Arnoux’s beaked
whales. In Japan, whalers have traditionally recognized two forms of Baird’s beaked
whales, the common “slate-gray” form and a smaller, rare “black” form. Previous
comparison of mtDNA control region sequences from three black specimens to gray
specimens around Japan indicated that the two forms comprise different stocks
and potentially different species.We have expanded sampling to include control region
haplotypes of 178 Baird’s beaked whales from across their range in the North
Pacific. We identified five additional specimens of the black form from the Aleutian
Islands and Bering Sea, for a total of eight “black” specimens. The divergence between
mtDNA haplotypes of the black and gray forms of Baird’s beaked whale was
greater than their divergence from the congeneric Arnoux’s beaked whale found
in the Southern Ocean, and similar to that observed among other congeneric beaked
whale species. Taken together, genetic evidence from specimens in Japan and across
the North Pacific, combined with evidence of smaller adult body size, indicate presence
of an unnamed species of Berardius in the North Pacific.