What is so incredible about the Unidentified Beaked Whales is that in all of our research we can only find 30 other reported sightings, and yet we have now seen them twice. They are called the Unidentified Beaked Whales because scientists do not give names to cetacea until they find a skull, and no skull has yet been found, they have only been sighted at sea. However, we have named them the Cloudback Beaked Whales because of the cloud-like white areas found on the males. The females are a fairly uniform color. Seeing a rare species such as this, especially more than once, makes the importance of our goal to create a marine sanctuary in this area even stronger.
Beaked whales are the least known of all cetaceans.
Some have never been seen alive. Most are known from dead animals washed ashore and, in some cases such as ours, from a few brief encounters at sea. Some may be genuinely rare, or simply elusive, but the main problem is that they generally live in deep water far from land. Beaked Whale is based on very sketchy data, in fact, we may very well be the first researchers to obtain video. Unlike most other beaked whales, which are known mainly from strandings, this species is known only from about 30 positive sightings at sea.