On the 6th of August 2021, a dead whale was found on the shoreline of Chatan Town in Okinawa Prefecture. The dead whale was examined to determine its appearance and skeletal structure, then based on previous research conducted by the Churashima Foundation (Kobayashi et al. 2021a; 2021b), it was identified as a Longman’s beaked whale. This is a rare whale with only 20 recorded strandings in the world. This individual was a young male approximately 5 meters in length. It is the 5th case of this species stranding in Japan. Previously there had been cases in Hokkaido, Kagoshima, and twice in Okinawa (2011 and 2020).

There is limited knowledge on the habitat of the Longman’s beaked whale, but there have now been several strandings in Okinawa. The Okinawa Churashima Foundation plans to work together with Chatan Town, Japanese and international research facilities to carry out further studies which include analysis of stomach contents and DNA.

Longman’s beaked whale stranded in Chatan Town, Okinawa Prefecture

【引用文献】
Kobayashi N, Tokutake K, Yoshida H, Okabe H, Miyamoto K, Ito H, Kawazu I, Ueda K. 2021a. The First Stranding Record of Longman’s Beaked Whale (Indopacetus pacificus) in Okinawa, Japan. Aquatic Mammals. 47(2): 153-174.

Kobayashi N, Ozawa S, Hanahara N, Tokutake K, Kaneshi T, Inoue K, Okabe H, Miyamoto K, Ueda K. 2021b. The first record of a Longman’s beaked whale (Indopacetus pacificus) newborn neonate found on Miyako Island, Okinawa, Japan. Marine Biodiversity Records. 14:4.