NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Antillean beaked whale
Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais, 1855)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais's beaked whale, Antillean beaked whale, Gulf Stream beaked whale, European beaked whale), oil on paper
Jörg Mazur · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Gervais's beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus), sometimes known as the Antillean beaked whale, Gulf Stream beaked whale, or European beaked whale (from which its scientific name is derived), is the most frequently stranding type of mesoplodont whale off the coast of North America. It has also stranded off South America and Africa.
Wikipedia contributors, Gervais's beaked whale; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:39:48.403189+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais, 1855)
- Name authority
- (Gervais, 1855)
- Common name
- Antillean beaked whale
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Cetacea
- Family
- Hyperoodontidae
- Genus
- Mesoplodon
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderCetacea Brisson, 1762
- suborderOdontoceti Flower, 1867
- familyHyperoodontidae Gray, 1846
- genusMesoplodon Gervais, 1850
- speciesMesoplodon europaeus (Gervais, 1855)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Mesoplodon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| North Atlantic beaked whaleMesoplodon bidens (Sowerby, 1804) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hubbs' Beaked WhaleMesoplodon carlhubbsi Moore, 1963 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Blainville's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon densirostris (Blainville, 1817) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ginkgo-toothed Beaked WhaleMesoplodon ginkgodens Nishiwaki & Kamiya, 1958 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon grayi von Haast, 1876 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hector's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Deraniyagala's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon hotaula Deraniyagala, 1963 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bering Sea beaked whaleMesoplodon stejnegeri True, 1885 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ramari's beaked whaleMesoplodon eueu Carroll, McGowen, McCarthy, Marx, Aguilar, Dalebout, Dreyer, Gaggiotti, Hansen et al., 2021 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Layard's beaked whaleMesoplodon layardii (Gray, 1865) | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| True's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon mirus True, 1913 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Perrin's Beaked WhaleMesoplodon perrini Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002 | HyperoodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Dioplodon europaeus Gervais, 1855 Gervais, 1855 | synonym |
| Dioplodon gervaisi Deslongchamps, 1866 Deslongchamps, 1866 | synonym |
| Mesoplodon gervaisi (Deslongchamps, 1866) (Deslongchamps, 1866) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Western Atlantic Ocean
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180509 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4256D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.