A whale with a rounded forehead and short beak that feeds on fish and squid in deep water.
The dorsal fin sits well back on the body. Adult males have two visible teeth at the tip of the lower jaw.
Individuals can have a white front to the head or a diagonal pale blaze. An adult and calf swimming together in the Azores both showed a pale head blaze.
In November 2012, a 3.9-m immature male with a white front to its head stranded on El Hierro in the Canary Islands. DNA from its skin confirmed the species. The 2017 paper documented this coloration extending over the melon, beak and lower jaw.
A striking pattern was also recorded on a living mother and calf. On 22 May 2015, an adult female and calf were photographed travelling together off São Miguel in the Azores. Both had a diagonal pale blaze on the head, extending toward the eye and the start of the mouthline. These were separate observations from the stranded white-headed male. DNA from skin and photographs taken at sea revealed different aspects of this rarely encountered whale’s appearance.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Loud human-made underwater noise can disrupt feeding and acoustic communication.
Necropsies of three whales stranded in Ireland in May 2013 found macroplastic in both adult females. One contained a shotgun cartridge; more detailed examination of this individual also detected small particles and fibres, including polyester, in its stomach and intestine. The 2015 study left the cause of death of all three whales undetermined and identified exposure routes and health effects as research questions. Reducing waste entering the sea and continuing digestive-tract examinations of stranded whales are possible measures to investigate and address this species’ exposure to marine pollution.