19-feet Cuvier’s Beaked Whale stranded along Chennai Coast

Environmentalists claim first time whale sighted in Chennai Beach

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

A 19-feet Cuvier’s Beaked Whale, weighing around 1,000 kg, was found dead along Chennai Coast at Sadras Kuppam close to Kalpakkam on Wednesday morning.

Former deputy director of Zoological Survey of India and chief marine biologist, Chennai station, P Dhandapani told Express that this is the first time the whale has been sighted in the Chennai coast.

Interestingly, there was previously a stranding of a Cuvier’s Beaked Whale recorded in Nellore in February 2010 in Lakshmipuram in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, he said.

Tree Foundation’s Supraja Dharini said the cigar shaped whale was spotted by the foundation’s Sea Turtle Protection Force members Sundar and Devadas at around 9 am and they alerted the Marine Mammal Stranding team.

The whale, which had a uniquely designed snout formation, was identified as a adult female weighing around 1,000 kg. The possible cause of death is attributed deep sea gill net fishing as the whale also had strangulation marks around its neck and torso.

Dhandapani said the whale, scientifically known as Ziphius Cavirospris is distributed worldwide but rare in Arctic and Antractic oceans. “These are mostly found in Oceania and in pods. They are shy and avoid ships and trawlers. They are also found in Bay of Bengal and are rarely beached. They die in deep ocean,” he said.

The whales have beak like teeth in the lower jaw and have no grinding teeth, he said.

Supraja said that due to the sheer size of the whale, it took the joint efforts of the Tree Foundation team and 20 local villagers to move it from the intertidal zone to the shore. “After repeated efforts, JCB was called to move the whale. The forest ranger of Chengalpet range-Kanchipuram was informed and two foresters and two guards were present to see the burial of the whale.

The whale was buried 20 metre above the high tide line by the Sea Turtle Protection Force Members of Sadras Kuppam and the local community, she added.

Supraja said that the foundation has been recording an unusually high number of sea turtle and cetacean (dolphins and whales) strandings from January 2014 onwards.

Additional features of whale:

Adult males have two large teeth about 2 inches long (5 cm) protrude from the tip of the lower jaw.

The males use these teeth in fights with each other over females.

For their part the females have smaller, more pointed teeth that remain embedded in the gums.

The lower jaw of the Cuvier's beaked whale extends well beyond the upper jaw. Like other beaked whales, the Cuvier's has two deep, V-shaped throat grooves.