In the Pribilof Islands community of St. George in Alaska, a young biology teacher was walking near a rarely-frequented beach when he spotted something sticking out of the sand. It was a deceased whale that had washed up on shore. He alerted a researcher who presumed it to be a deceased Baird's beaked whale, but upon further examination, it was something entirely different! After additional measurement, it appeared that the dead marine mammal was too dark in color, and too small in size to be a Baird's beaked whale. The dorsal fin was much larger than the suspected species as well. They soon realized they had discovered a previously unidentified species of whale.
Through skull and DNA comparisons with other known species, scientists were able to locate a skeleton of this new whale in a school in the Aleutian Islands. This officially unnamed species with its dark color has been referred to by Japanese fishermen as 'Karasu' or raven. This single discovery in 2016 of an entirely new species, 23 feet in length, demonstrates just how little we know about ocean life.
Scientists have yet to find one alive. As whales are still hunted daily in some parts of the world, it could be that this species is already under threat.
For researchers, it will be a challenge to locate this whale and to determine how many of them are still around. Hopefully they are able to find a living specimen and learn more about it. Who knows what other wonders they might encounter out there?
