No photo available
False killer whale
Pseudorca crassidens
Valid name.
- English
- False killer whale
- Scientific
- Pseudorca crassidens
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Dolphins
- Maximum size
- Males up to about 6 m; females to about 5 m
- Depth and habitat
- Deep oceanic waters
- IUCN status
- NT · Near ThreatenedNear Threatened (NT), assessed 2018
Description
A long, slender, all-black dolphin with a tapered, rounded head, no beak and distinctive S-shaped flippers with a bulge on the leading edge. It is a fast, acrobatic predator of large fish such as tuna and dolphinfish, and sometimes attacks other dolphins. Groups share food among members. It is known for mass strandings.
In the Maldives
Uncommon in the Maldives (about 0.5% of encounters); a biopsy sample from the Maldives was used in a study of the species' population genetics.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Pseudorca-crassidens.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:Pseudoorca_Crassidens_-_False_Killer_Whale.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in the cetacean literature reviewed (Anderson 2005; Anderson et al. 2012), FishBase/SeaLifeBase or Dhivehi Wikipedia.