Polarstern / CAML expedition: Christmas whales
A rare picture of the male Strap-toothed Whale and its black and white pattern
© M. Scheidat / Alfred Wegener Institute
Christmas was a celebration that felt strange when spent at sea, far away from loved ones. However, this didn't prevent the big Polarstern family from enjoying it as much as possible. After the traditional dinner, we all gathered together in the "Blue saloon" for a Christmas glass, following the captain's speech. But there was more, a choir practising for more than a week offered to the assembly a suite of Christmas songs in 8 languages: German and English of course, the two languages the most used onboard Polarstern, but also in French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Danish and event Czech ! A polyglot performance that won't be forgotten soon.
Have you ever heard of "Beaked Whales"? These dolphin's cousins belong to the most numerous and the most mysterious cetacean family, the "Ziphiids", as the cetologists call them. They reach a considerable size âthe Baird's Beaked Whale can be as much as 13m. Despite their size, these 20 species are still very poorly known, as they live in deep waters as small and elusive family units. They are so poorly known that new species are still being discovered, as demonstrated by two additional species of "Mesoplodon" being documented from the Pacific Ocean during the nineties. All these creatures feed on squid, caught by swift suctions during deep and long-lasting dives.
If I take so much time to describe this group, it is because our whales specialists had another hit... Some days after an exceptional series of shots of the rare and poorly known Arnoux's Beaked Whale (9 meters!), they managed to identify and photograph during their first Christmas flight two mesoplodons. On the list of the least known cetaceans species, mesoplodons are definitely amongst the top ten. The strangest is certainly the Strap-toothed Whale: the male can only half-open its mouth (although enough to remain an expert in squid slurping!) due to the bizarre growth of two teeth emerging from its lower jaw to cross above the upper one!
