Cuvier's Beaked Whale

Open encyclopedia reference

Cuvier's beaked whale, goose-beaked whale, or ziphius (Ziphius cavirostris) is the most widely distributed of all beaked whales in the family Ziphiidae. It is among the largest beaked whales but smaller than most baleen whales, reaching lengths of about 4.5–8 metres (15–26 ft) and weights of 1,800–3,100 kg (4,000–6,800 lb).

This species is pelagic, inhabiting deep offshore waters far from coastlines, typically deeper than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft). They reside mostly in temperate, tropical, and subtropical areas of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

Cuvier's beaked whale holds the record for both the deepest and longest recorded dives among mammals. Recorded dives have reached depths of 2,992 m (9,816 ft) and durations of 222 minutes.

Although the species is currently listed as Least Concern by the International Union of Conservation of Nature, it faces several anthropogenic (human-made) threats, including entanglement in fishing gear, hunting, and ocean noise.

Wikipedia contributors, Cuvier'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 2026-10-05T09:08:33.622833+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Ziphius cavirostris G. Cuvier, 1823

Name authority

G. Cuvier, 1823

Common name

Cuvier's Beaked Whale

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Cetacea

Family

Hyperoodontidae

Genus

Ziphius

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderCetacea Brisson, 1762
12. suborderOdontoceti Flower, 1867
13. familyHyperoodontidae Gray, 1846
14. genusZiphius G. Cuvier, 1823
15. speciesZiphius cavirostris G. Cuvier, 1823

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 20 records assigned to Hyperoodontidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

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

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.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180498 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:5D5PZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.