📸 PhotoPhoto: Charlotte Kirchner · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Cuvier's Beaked Whale
Ziphius cavirostris (Cuvier's Beaked Whale · アカボウクジラ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its deepest recorded dive of about 2,990 m is more than five times the height of Lotte World Tower (555 m) in Korea (Comparison).
- 💡 Its maximum body length of 7 m is about one and a half passenger cars (about 4.5 m), and its weight of about 3.1 tons is about two passenger cars (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
Cuvier's Beaked Whale lives in deep waters across most of the world's oceans and dives to great depths for long periods.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its head is sloping and concave without a distinct beak, and grooves on its throat help create a vacuum to suck in prey. Adult males have two small conical teeth at the tip of the lower jaw.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It mainly eats squid and octopuses and occasionally takes fish and crustaceans. It typically dives for 20–40 minutes to depths of 3,300 feet (about 1,000 m), with a deepest recorded dive of 9,816 feet (about 2,990 m) and a longest dive of 222 minutes.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
Listed in the National List of Species of Korea (National Institute of Biological Resources (NIBR)) as "minburigorae" (Korean name), it has been recorded in Korean waters.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2020) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/23211/50379111
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006485
- • iucnredlist.org — 50379111
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053425 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053425
- • wikidata.org — Q623173
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Ziphius cavirostris 47619123 (cropped).jpg
- • fisheries.noaa.gov — cuviers-beaked-whale
- • species.nibr.go.kr — general-search
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Mesoplodon mirus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.