Cryptid whales
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Cryptid whales are
cetacea Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...
ns claimed to exist by cryptozoologists on the basis of informal sightings, but not accepted by
taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...
s as they lack formal descriptions of type specimens. Over the past few hundred years, sailors and whalers have reported seeing whales they cannot identify. The most well-known are Giglioli's Whale, the rhinoceros dolphin, Trunko, the high-finned sperm whale, and the Alula whale.


Multiple-finned cetaceans

Records of two-finned cetaceans have been described in unverified written accounts by naturalists over the past few hundred years.


Giglioli's Whale

Giglioli's Whale, or ''Amphiptera pacifica'', is a purported species of whale observed by Enrico Hillyer Giglioli. It is described to have two dorsal fins, a feature which no known whales have. On September 4, 1867, on board a ship called the ''Magenta'' about off the coast of Chile, the zoologist spotted a species of whale which he could not recognize. It was very close to the ship (too close to shoot with a cannon) and was observed for a quarter of an hour, allowing Giglioli to make very detailed observations. The whale looked overall similar to a rorqual, long with an elongated body, but the most notable difference was the presence of two large dorsal fins about apart. Other unusual features include the presence of two long sickle-shaped flippers and a lack of throat pleats. Another report of a two finned whale of roughly the same size was recorded from the ship ''Lily'' off the coast of Scotland the following year. In 1983 between Corsica and the French mainland, French zoologist Jacques Maigret sighted a similar looking creature. Although it has not been proven to exist, it was given a "classification" by Giglioli. The whale may have been a genetic mutation. Given the species' alleged size and attributes, it is extremely doubtful such a species would not have been taken (and reported) by modern commercial whalers, bringing into doubt its very existence.


Rhinoceros dolphin

The rhinoceros dolphin (''Delphinus rhinoceros'' or ''Cetodipteros rhinoceros'') is a purported species of dolphin – or dolphin-like whale – said to have an additional dorsal fin on or near the head, reminiscent of a rhinoceros horn.
Jean René Constant Quoy Jean René Constant Quoy (10 November 1790 in Maillé, Vendée, Maillé – 4 July 1869 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort) was a French naval surgeon, zoologist and anatomist. In 1806, he began his medical studies at the school of naval ...
and Joseph Gaimard allegedly discovered this dolphin off the coast of the Sandwich Islands and New South Wales. It supposedly possesses two dorsal fins, much like Giglioli's Whale. One is near the head, where the neck would be on terrestrial animals, and the other is farther back than the dorsal fin of any other dolphin. These have a somewhat large size, and are black with large white blotches. Michel Raynal suggested it may have been misobserved somersault behavior (with the first "fin" being a flipper and the second being a fluke), but dismissed it as unlikely.
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...
proposed it may have been an optical illusion and Richard Ellis suggested it may have been a dolphin with a remora stuck on its head. Markus Bühler pointed out that one dolphin's deformed jaw curiously resembles the oddly placed fin or "horn" of the rhinoceros dolphin. Supernumerary dorsal fins are apparently a genuine mutation; however, none have turned up a considerable distance from where the dorsal fin should be positioned, let alone on the head. Raynal and Sylvestre (1991) argued that since Quoy and Gaimard observed multiple individuals exhibiting the morphology, a distinct species, ''Cetodipterus rhinoceros'', would be more probable than a pod of disfigured individuals. Another argued hypothesis is that that pod was part of an inbred population, which led to the mutation. Another possibility is that Quoy and Gaimard observed specimens which were neither deformed nor members of an unknown species or population, but rather misidentified a pair of beaked whales that, by perspective, appeared to be one single creature.


High-finned sperm whale

The high-finned sperm whale, or the high-finned cachalot, is an alleged variant or relative of the known sperm whale, ''Physeter macrocephalus'', with an unusually tall dorsal fin from the North Atlantic. The physician Sir
Robert Sibbald Sir Robert Sibbald (15 April 1641 – August 1722) was a Scottish physician and antiquary. Life He was born in Edinburgh, the son of David Sibbald (brother of Sir James Sibbald) and Margaret Boyd (January 1606 – 10 July 1672). Educated at th ...
, in 1687, described an alleged stranded female individual on
Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, saying its dorsal fins was similar to a "
mizzen mast The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation ligh ...
", and the whale, based on Sibbald's account, was described as ''P. tursio''. However, naturalist
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...
disregarded Sibbald's claim as a bad description of the carcass, as well as dismissing the name ''P. tursio''. Another alleged sighting was off the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada on September 27, 1946, where the creature was apparently trapped there for two days. Its length was estimated to be between .


Alula whale

The Alula whale, or the Alula killer, or ''Orcinus mörzer-bruynsus'', was discussed and illustrated for the first time, but not formally named, by W. F. J. Mörzer Bruyns in ''Field Guide of Whales and Dolphins'', purportedly being seen by the author several times. It resembles a sepia brown killer whale with a well-rounded forehead and white, star-like scars on the body. He wrote they are present in the deep coastal waters in eastern
Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...
to Socotra, and they were seen in April, May, June, and September. He estimated it to be roughly long, weigh around , and have a dorsal fin that is around high. Bruyns reported that they maintained a cruising speed of 4 knots, and traveled in groups of 4 to 8, but usually 6.


Unidentified beaked whales

The "Moore's Beach monster", an initially unidentified carcass found in 1925 on Moore's Beach on Monterey Bay was identified by the California Academy of Sciences as a Baird's beaked whale. Regarding similar cases relating to
beaked whale Beaked whales (systematic name Ziphiidae) are a family of cetaceans noted as being one of the least known groups of mammals because of their deep-sea habitat and apparent low abundance. Only three or four of the 24 species are reasonably well-k ...
s, an unknown type of large beaked whale of similar size to fully grown ''
Berardius bairdii Baird's beaked whale (''Berardius bairdii''), also known as the northern giant bottlenose whale, North Pacific bottlenose whale, giant four-toothed whale, northern four-toothed whale and the North Pacific four-toothed whale, is a species of whale ...
'' have been reported to live in the Sea of Okhotsk. These whales are claimed to have heads somewhat resembling
Longman's beaked whale The tropical bottlenose whale (''Indopacetus pacificus''), also known as the Indo-Pacific beaked whale or Longman's beaked whale, was considered to be the world's rarest cetacean until recently, but the spade-toothed whale now holds that positio ...
s, and there have been claims that records of strandings of these whales exist along the areas within and adjacent to
Tatar Strait Strait of Tartary or Gulf of Tartary (russian: Татарский пролив; ; ja, 間宮海峡, Mamiya kaikyō, Mamiya Strait; ko, 타타르 해협) is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia ...
in the 2010s. In addition, possible new species of beaked whales have been described to be present in the coastal and pelagic waters of Abashiri and
Shiretoko Peninsula is located on the easternmost portion of the Japanese island of Hokkaidō, protruding into the Sea of Okhotsk. It is separated from Kunashir Island, which is now occupied by Russia, by the Nemuro Strait. The name Shiretoko is derived from the ...
northeastern Hokkaido.


See also

* List of cryptids


References

{{reflist Cryptozoology Whales