Longman's beaked whale lives offshore in tropical Indian and Pacific waters. It is difficult to identify at sea, and much of its biology remains poorly known.
Adult colour varies but is mainly tan to greyish brown. The beak is moderately long, and the long, hooked dorsal fin sits far back on the body.
The Indo-Pacific beaked whale is a large cetacean of tropical and subtropical open waters. In November and December 2012, observers conducted a visual survey during a 19-day voyage from Singapore to Sri Lanka. Across the trip they recorded 40 cetacean sightings representing 11 species.
One group of Indo-Pacific beaked whales was seen with short-finned pilot whales in the Bay of Bengal. The authors reported it as the first live sighting there and, at the time, the easternmost live record in the northern Indian Ocean. The observation added a rare open-ocean whale to the region’s sighting records.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
A 19-day voyage in 2012 recorded a live Indo-Pacific beaked whale sighting in the Bay of Bengal. It was reported as the easternmost live record in the northern Indian Ocean at that time, adding a new location to the species’ distribution record.