This species inhabits the North Atlantic, with its centre of distribution appearing to be the North Sea and most records coming from the United Kingdom. It can be found as northernly as Norway and as southernly as Madiera. The southernmost report of this cetacean was from the Gulf of Mexico. British watercolour artist and naturalist named this species in 1804, four years after a skull had been found in the Moray Firth, Scotland. It was later used by French biologist Paul Gervais as the basis for the genus Mesoplodon .
Adults are bluish grey or slate coloured, with grey to white flanks and belly.
Young are generally paler and have less scars than the adults. The largest male recorded was 5.5m, with the largest female 5.05m. Sowerby's Beaked Whale occurs in temperate and subarctic waters.