Distribution of Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii)

Abstract

Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii) are generally considered to be uncommon to rare, and likely to prefer deep oceanic waters of the Southern Hemisphere. During many top‐predator surveys in the Southern Ocean since 1988 we did not sight the species. However, in April 2022 we encountered three groups in the marginal sea‐ice zone of the Weddell Sea. This study provides detailed descriptions of the sighted animals and their environment and report on unpublished sightings of this species from 1986 to 1998. A search of published information on the distribution of the species revealed 108 documented sightings with a total of 1,125 individuals. In combination these sources of information for the Southern Ocean, suggest a frequent occurrence in ice‐covered waters, often close to the continental coast and edges of fast ice and ice‐shelves. North of 60°S, in the temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, the species was also regularly sighted near continents, even far inshore, in fjords surrounded by land.