Deep off the coast of Baja California, a discovery was made in June 2024 that reframes what we know about one of the ocean’s most mysterious creatures. Researchers aboard Oregon State University’s research vessel, the Pacific Storm, confirmed live sightings of ginkgo‑toothed beaked whales, a species that until then had only been documented via stranded carcasses.
The mission was the culmination of more than five years of patient work. By 2020, a transnational team of Mexican and U.S.-based scientists had begun tracking a distinctive underwater call, labeled “BW43”, thanks to its clear, repeated pattern. Initially, they suspected the calls belonged to Perrin’s beaked whale, itself a species rarely seen alive. But as the years passed, the data pointed elsewhere.
This week, The Guardian reported that in June 2024, the Pacific Storm deployed its towed hydrophone array to listen for BW43, while its observation deck, equipped with high-powered binoculars, stood ready for a visual encounter. Soon enough, two juvenile beaked whales surfaced, diving in short, shy bursts. Then came the defining moment: Robert Pitman, a veteran whale researcher now retired from Oregon State University, shot a small biopsy dart into one of the whales. The dart retrieved a tiny patch of skin and when the team later analyzed it, it confirmed they’d found the long-sought ginkgo‑toothed beaked whale.
The emotional reaction on deck was immediate. As Elizabeth Henderson, lead author of the resulting paper (and a researcher at the U.S. Naval Information Warfare Center), recalls: “Everybody on the boat was cheering … we finally had it.”
Until now, ginkgo‑toothed beaked whales were mysterious ghosts of the deep. Their only prior evidence came from washed-up specimens, primarily on the opposite side of the Pacific, in Japan. The species’ presence in the waters off Baja California and California shores had been speculative. But by comparing acoustic databases to the BW43 call, the team showed that these whales likely live in those waters year-round, overturning assumptions that earlier strandings were anomalies or vagrants.
However, in 2024, ORCA Ocean Conservationists aboard Ambassador Ambience had an encounter with a probably gingko-toothed beaked whale sailing between Auckland and Sydney. Natasha and Abi were out on deck collecting and saw breaching beaked whales, which global experts confirmed was almost certainly this elusive species.
Understanding where these whales live is more than just a curiosity. Beaked whales are among the most sensitive marine mammals to underwater noise. Military sonar, for instance, can disrupt their diving behaviour and even cause fatal injuries similar to decompression sickness in human divers. By mapping their true ranges, scientists can better advise on when and where these activities should be limited to protect them.
This small glimpse into a mystery underscores how much remains unknown in our oceans even about some of their largest mammals. Thanks to decades of persistent teamwork, what was once only known from beach strandings is now being documented in life, in some of the deepest, quietest waters on Earth.