Dwarf sperm whale
Kogia sima
Valid name.
- English
- Dwarf sperm whale
- Scientific
- Kogia sima
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Sperm whales
- Maximum size
- About 2.7 m
- Depth and habitat
- Deep water off the outer atoll slopes
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2020
Description
A small, shark-like toothed whale with a blunt head, an underslung lower jaw and a pale bracket-shaped mark behind the eye that looks like a gill slit. It is dark grey above and paler below, with a relatively tall dorsal fin in mid-back. It lies quietly at the surface and sinks out of sight rather than diving with a show. When startled it can release a cloud of reddish-brown ink-like fluid from its gut. It feeds on deep-water squid, fish and crustaceans.
In the Maldives
Surprisingly common in the Maldives: hard to spot in rough seas, but it made up about one sixth of all cetacean sightings in flat-calm conditions in Anderson's surveys. Recorded from Maldivian waters for the first time in 1998.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Kogia-sima.html
- mammalwatching.com /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Maldives-cetaceans-review-2012.pdf
- mrc.gov.mv /assets/Uploads/2005-Observations-of-cetaceans-in-the-Maldives-1990-20
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Dwarf_sperm_whale_(NOAA_Pitman).jpg
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in the cetacean literature reviewed (Anderson 2005; Anderson et al. 2012), FishBase/SeaLifeBase or Dhivehi Wikipedia.