Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale
Summary: It is essential to discover and identify animals in species level in the wild to achieve the collection of baseline data and benefit better understanding and conservation of the rare species. However, this is far from being realized for many beaked whales in the deep sea, including the Dera...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-12-01
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| Series: | iScience |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224026920 |
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| author | Songhai Li Mingming Liu Wenzhi Lin Lijun Dong Mingli Lin Hui Kang Inge Seim |
| author_facet | Songhai Li Mingming Liu Wenzhi Lin Lijun Dong Mingli Lin Hui Kang Inge Seim |
| author_sort | Songhai Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: It is essential to discover and identify animals in species level in the wild to achieve the collection of baseline data and benefit better understanding and conservation of the rare species. However, this is far from being realized for many beaked whales in the deep sea, including the Deraniyagala’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon hotaula), which is one of the least-known whales with no confirmed live sightings at sea yet all over the world. Here, we provide the first robust field identification of M. hotaula, by integrating DNA sequencing of skin biopsies, acoustic data, and photographs. Our discovery illustrates that M. hotaula has distinguishing acoustic and morphological characteristics, enabling us to distinguish it from other mesoplodonts in the wild. The identification of M. hotaula in species level is rapidly advancing our knowledge on its distribution range, habitat characteristics, behavior, ontogenetic color pattern development, group size and structure, and potential threats. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f52a6c11fddf4922be45b0ac26ab3afa |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj-art-f52a6c11fddf4922be45b0ac26ab3afa2024-12-22T05:29:27ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422024-12-012712111465Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whaleSonghai Li0Mingming Liu1Wenzhi Lin2Lijun Dong3Mingli Lin4Hui Kang5Inge Seim6Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, China; Corresponding authorMarine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, ChinaMarine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, ChinaMarine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, ChinaMarine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, ChinaMarine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, ChinaMarine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572000, ChinaSummary: It is essential to discover and identify animals in species level in the wild to achieve the collection of baseline data and benefit better understanding and conservation of the rare species. However, this is far from being realized for many beaked whales in the deep sea, including the Deraniyagala’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon hotaula), which is one of the least-known whales with no confirmed live sightings at sea yet all over the world. Here, we provide the first robust field identification of M. hotaula, by integrating DNA sequencing of skin biopsies, acoustic data, and photographs. Our discovery illustrates that M. hotaula has distinguishing acoustic and morphological characteristics, enabling us to distinguish it from other mesoplodonts in the wild. The identification of M. hotaula in species level is rapidly advancing our knowledge on its distribution range, habitat characteristics, behavior, ontogenetic color pattern development, group size and structure, and potential threats.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224026920Marine organismEcologyZoology |
| spellingShingle | Songhai Li Mingming Liu Wenzhi Lin Lijun Dong Mingli Lin Hui Kang Inge Seim Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale iScience Marine organism Ecology Zoology |
| title | Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale |
| title_full | Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale |
| title_fullStr | Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale |
| title_full_unstemmed | Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale |
| title_short | Identification of the enigmatic Deraniyagala’s beaked whale |
| title_sort | identification of the enigmatic deraniyagala s beaked whale |
| topic | Marine organism Ecology Zoology |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224026920 |
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