“It’s always exciting to see something different that you don’t see very often,” she adds to the publication.įirst described in 1823, Cuvier’s beaked whales can grow to between 15 and 23 feet long and can weigh between 4,000 to 6,800 pounds, per NOAA. In her 35 years as a marine biologist and tour operator, Nancy Black, owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, has only ever spotted them about three times, she tells the San Francisco Chronicle’s Laya Neelakandan. That’s because the Monterey Canyon, which is 2.5 miles deep at its lowest point, bisects the bay, as Karin Forney, a research biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center, tells SFGate’s Amy Graff.Įven so, sightings of these whales in the bay are few and far between. On the morning of July 5, the sightseers were on a Monterey Bay Whale Watch boat about ten miles northwest of Monterey Harbor, when they spotted four to six Cuvier’s beaked whales swimming and diving.Ī tour guide identified the cetaceans by their tannish-brown coloring and white spots.Īn estimated 5,000 Cuvier’s beaked whales live along the West Coast of North America, and Monterey Bay is one of the few places near the shore deep enough for them to thrive. That’s why a group of whale watchers were shocked to see an entire pod of the elusive whales ( Ziphius cavirostris) while taking a tour off the coast of California last week. They rarely surface-and when they do, it’s just for a few minutes to catch their breath before plunging back down. Cuvier’s beaked whales are mysterious creatures that can dive deep and spend several hours underwater at a time.
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