NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Perrin's Beaked Whale

Mesoplodon perrini Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002

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 perrini (Perrin's beaked whale), oil on paper
Jörg Mazur · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image source
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Open encyclopedia reference

Perrin's beaked whale (Mesoplodon perrini) is a species of ziphiid beaked whale belonging to the toothed whale suborder. The genus name Mesoplodon comes from the Greek meanings of meso- (middle), - hopla (arms), - odon (teeth), and may be translated as 'armed with a tooth in the center of the jaw'. Perrin's beaked whale was described as a new species in 2002 by Dalebout et al. based on five animals stranding on the coast of California between 1975 and 1997, which were initially identified as other species. The common and specific names of Mesopledon perrini are a tribute to cetologist William F. Perrin. As of May 2019, only six specimens have ever been examined. The first two specimens were found stranded on the California coast in May 1975, other specimens were found in 1978, 1979, September 1997 (a super El Niño year), and October 2013. The first four individuals were initially identified as Hector's beaked whales (Mesoplodon hectori), but the mtDNA sequence database of beaked whales revealed the specimens were genetically distinct.

Wikipedia contributors, Perrin'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 2026-10-05T09:15:21.544274+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Mesoplodon perrini Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002
Name authority: Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002
Common name: Perrin's 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 perrini Dalebout, Mead, Baker, Baker & van Helden, 2002

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
Antillean beaked whaleMesoplodon europaeus (Gervais, 1855)	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

Browse 20 records assigned to Hyperoodontidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

East Pacific

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.

Dalebout, Merel L., James G. Mead, C. Scott Baker, Alan N. Baker, and Anton L. van Helden. (2002). A new species of beaked whale Mesoplodon perrini sp. n. (Cetacea: Ziphiidae) discovered through phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Marine Mammal Science, Vol. 18, No. 3. 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:4256T. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.