Sato's beaked whale
Sato's beaked whale ("Berardius minimus") is a little-known species of four-toothed whale. Description. Sato's beaked whale is one of the poorly distinguished species in the genus "Berardius". It was distinguished from Arnoux's and Baird's beaked whale in 2019 on the basis of mtDNA differences. It generally has a short beak (~4% body length). While other four-toothed whales are generally grey with scars, kurotsuchis usually have few linear scars, so that the dark, smooth skin contrasts highly with round, white scars of about 5 cm diameter (from cookiecutter shark bites ). Distribution. The species' distribution, based on genetic samples from strandings only, is believed to include the sea around Japan, the Russian Federation, and Alaska. Conservation. Although very little is known about the ecology and populations of Sato's beaked whale, the IUCN has assigned the species a classification of Near threatened based on its estimated low population numbers.