Genetic structure of the beaked whale genus Berardius in the North Pacific,with genetic evidence for a new species |
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| Authors: | Phillip A Morin C Scott Baker Reid S Brewer Alexander M Burdin Merel L Dalebout James P Dines Ivan Fedutin Olga Filatova Erich Hoyt Jean‐Luc Jung Morgane Lauf Charles W Potter Gaetan Richard Michelle Ridgway Kelly M Robertson Paul R Wade |
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| Institution: | 1. Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, La Jolla, California, U.S.A.;2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California, U.S.A.;3. Marine Mammal Institute and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Newport, Oregon, U.S.A.;4. Fisheries Technology, University of Alaska Southeast, Sitka, Alaska, U.S.A.;5. Kamchatka Branch of the Pacific Geographical Institute, Petropavlovsk‐Kamchatsky, Russia;6. School of Biological, Earth, and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;7. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.;8. Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia;9. Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Bridport, Dorset, United Kingdom;10. Laboratoire BioGEMME, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France;11. U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, U.S.A.;12. Département de Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Lyon, France;13. Oceanus Alaska, Auke Bay Ocean Center, Auke Bay, Alaska, U.S.A.;14. Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | There are two recognized species in the genus Berardius, Baird's and Arnoux's beaked whales. In Japan, whalers have traditionally recognized two forms of Baird's beaked whales, the common “slate‐gray” form and a smaller, rare “black” form. Previous comparison of mtDNA control region sequences from three black specimens to gray specimens around Japan indicated that the two forms comprise different stocks and potentially different species. We have expanded sampling to include control region haplotypes of 178 Baird's beaked whales from across their range in the North Pacific. We identified five additional specimens of the black form from the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, for a total of eight “black” specimens. The divergence between mtDNA haplotypes of the black and gray forms of Baird's beaked whale was greater than their divergence from the congeneric Arnoux's beaked whale found in the Southern Ocean, and similar to that observed among other congeneric beaked whale species. Taken together, genetic evidence from specimens in Japan and across the North Pacific, combined with evidence of smaller adult body size, indicate presence of an unnamed species of Berardius in the North Pacific. |
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| Keywords: | Baird's beaked whale Arnoux's beaked whale Ziphiidae mitochondrial DNA phylogenetics population structure cetacean |
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