Rare appearance

A large group of a rarely sighted, mysterious species of whale has been seen off the coast of Antarctica. Approximately 60 Arnoux’s beaked whales were seen and photographed frolicking on the surface in the Gerlache Strait.

Few sighting of this enigmatic species are made in the wild, and even less in waters near to shore.

The sighting, of the largest group ever recorded, is also the first time this species of whale has been seen socialising at the water surface.

Marine biologists have published details of the sighting in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

The whales were very tactile with each other, slapping the water with their tails, surfacing rapidly

Marine biologist Ari Friedlaender

"There was a fair bit of incredulity and excitement throughout the sighting," says Dr Ari Friedlaender of Duke University’s Marine Laboratory, based in Beaufort, North Carolina, US.

As a group, beaked whales are among the least understood large animals on the planet.

Around 20 species belong to the family Ziphiidae, with several only having been discovered in the past couple of decades.

Typically, beaked whales are deep divers, and they are the only whales to have tusks, which are teeth that erupt from the lower jaws of the males.

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