Department of Primary Industries (NSW), Lord Howe Island Marine Park News, The Lord Howe Island Signal
On 11 May 2023 a deceased beaked whale washed into shallow water at the Western end of Old Settlement Beach. Lord Howe Island Police and LHIMP staff arrived on-site to assess the situation, ensure public safety and field public enquiries.
Due to weather conditions, the location of the carcass and the risk to public safety from feeding sharks, land burial was determined to be the safest option. A local contractor was engaged for the burial with assistance and supervision from LHIB staff. Accurate species identification of beaked whales is difficult, even for stranded animals, so tissue samples were taken for DNA analysis by Australian Museum.
The preliminary identification is a male Blainsville’s Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris), consistent with the two large tusks in lower jaw, with stalked barnacles growing on their exposed tips. The carcass also had distinctive raked scarring which males of this species inflict on each other with their tusks during combat.
This species is believed to inhabit deep tropical and subtropical waters around seamounts and oceanic islands. While pods are sometimes seen alive off Lord Howe Island, little is known about them including reasons for strandings, although injury or illness are likely causes. A previous stranding of this rare species occurred on LHI in 2011, with the carcasses also buried and later exhumed by the Australian Museum in 2017.
This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 30 June 2023.
