[NHCOLL-L:4962] Re: identify a whale skull

[Liz Freedman]

Here's the whale ID, from a marine mammal expert friend of mine. You
can ask him more questions directly at robertb at montana.edu :

"Based on the morphology of the vertex, this appears to be a skull of
Ziphius cavirostris (Cuvier's Beaked Whale). Several species of
Mesoplodon are also known from Mexican waters, but not Indopacetus or
Hyperoodon. The nasal bones are too inflated and large in this
specimen to belong to Mesoplodon, and the vertex does not overhang the
facial region of the skull enough either; furthermore, the large
flange on the posterior portion of the ascending process of the
premax. (and lacking a similarly developed process on the left
premaxilla) identifies this as Ziphius cavirostris.

Bobby Boessenecker

Master's Student
Department of Earth Sciences
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59715
(650)-773-6438 "


Hope that helps!
-Liz Freedman

PhD Candidate
Museum of the Rockies
Montana State University


On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 1:14 PM, Bryant, James <JBRYANT at riversideca.gov> wrote:
> The attached images are of a whale cranium that was apparently salvaged from
> a beach along the Sea of Cortez. It appears to be a beaked whale, but I
> can’t tell what species. Anyone want to venture an identification? The
> overall length is about 30 inches/76 cm.
>
>
>
> James M. Bryant
>
> Curator of Natural History
>
> Museum Department, City of Riverside
>
> 3580 Mission Inn Avenue
>
> Riverside, CA 92501
>
> (951) 826-5273
>
> (951) 369-4970 FAX
>
> jbryant at riversideca.gov
>
>