Berardius arnuxii (Arnoux's beaked whale)
southern four-toothed
whale, large beaked whale [English]; Arnoux se snoetwalvis [Afrikaans]
Life
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Opisthokonta >
Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia >
Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates) >
Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost
fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class:
Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia
(terrestrial vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota >
Synapsida (mammal-like reptiles) > Therapsida > Theriodontia
> Cynodontia > Mammalia (mammals)
> Placentalia (placental mammals) >
Laurasiatheria > Ferungulata > Cetartiodactyla (even-toed ungulates and
cetaceans) > Whippomorpha > Cetacea (whales, dolphins and
porpoises) > Family: Ziphiidae (beaked whales)
> Subfamily: Ziphiinae
This rare whale is also known as the southern
giant bottlenose whale or southern fourtooth whale. It is of a deep
blue grey colour, has an average length of 9 metres and weighs
around 6 400 kilograms.
Little is known of them other than they tend not to form large
groups and that they feed on squid and other mollusca.
Text by Derek Ohland |