beaked whale
nounDefinition of beaked whale
: any of a family (Ziphiidae) of toothed whales that have a relatively long, narrow snout suggestive of a beak, that in the males often have a large bulging forehead, and that unlike other whales lack a notch on the fluke
Note: Beaked whales lack teeth in the upper jaw. Typically, female beaked whales also lack functional teeth in the lower jaw while male whales have one to two pairs of small tusklike teeth in the lower jaw. Beaked whales feed chiefly on deepwater squid.
Examples of beaked whale in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The ships will spend much of the summer hunting for minke and Baird's beaked whales, Reuters reported. — NBC News, "Japan resumes commercial whaling after three decades," 1 July 2019 Gervais' beaked whales have a slightly bulging forehead and a pronounced, narrow beak. — National Geographic, "Exclusive: Rare, Mysterious Whales Filmed Professionally for the First Time," 9 Mar. 2018 Cuvier's beaked whale ranges through the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, but its Gulf population is considered unique and isolated. — Tristan Baurick, NOLA.com, "Oil drilling, New Orleans mayor's race and a deep-diving whale in this week's coastal news roundup," 27 Oct. 2017 Sarah Kaplan at The Washington Post reports that True’s beaked whale was first identified in 1913 by Frederick William True, the first curator of marine mammals at the Smithsonian Institution. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "See the First Video of One of the World’s Rarest Whales," 8 Mar. 2017 According to the center, the blasts may deafen the animal and cause internal hemorrhaging and lesions found in the growing number of dead beaked whales that have washed up on beaches. — Tristan Baurick, NOLA.com, "Oil drilling, New Orleans mayor's race and a deep-diving whale in this week's coastal news roundup," 27 Oct. 2017 In Hollywood, a dead beaked whale was found, in addition to twisted metal that looked like part of an airplane. — Lisa J. Huriash, Sun-Sentinel.com, "What Hurricane Irma brought ashore: A very old canoe, military property and a 'ghost ship'," 29 Sep. 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'beaked whale.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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