An 11.5-foot-long whale that landed in the Florida Everglades in January 2019 turns out to be a completely new species. And it is already considered endangered, scientists say.
When the monster’s corpse was washed along Sandy Key, underweight with a piece of hard plastic in its gut, scientists thought it was a subspecies of Bryde’s whale (pronounced “broodus”). ), a species of white whale in the same group that includes humps and blue whales. This subspecies was called the Rice Whale.
Now, after genetic analysis of other rice whales along with an examination of the skull of the Everglades whale, researchers think that, more than a subspecies, the rice whale is a completely new species that lives in the Gulf of Mexico.
The discovery, detailed on January 10 in the journal Science of marine mammals, also means that there are less than 100 members of this species living on the planet, making them “critically endangered,” according to a statement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Related: Amazing new video shows baby humpback whales breastfeeding their mothers
According to the study, the researchers examined records of Bryde’s whale in the Caribbean and the great Atlantic Ocean and concluded that the whales they saw were evidence “of an undescribed Balaenoptera species from the Gulf of Mexico.”
The study’s lead author Patricia Rosel and co-author Lynsey Wilcox, both at the Southeast Fisheries Science Center, completed the first genetic testing of this whale in 2008, finding that the Rice Whale’s skull was different from that of Bryde’s whales.
In addition to having different skulls, Rice whales are slightly different in size from Bryde’s whales, according to the new analysis. According to NOAA, they can weigh up to 27,215 kilograms and grow up to 12.8 meters long, while Bryde’s whales reach 15.2 meters and weigh more than 55,000 pounds (according to NOAA). 24,947 kg).
Rosel and colleagues think that whales of the new species can live for about 60 years, but since there are so few, researchers need additional observation of whales to get a better idea of their hope. of life.
Given their location in the Gulf of Mexico, Rice whales are particularly vulnerable to oil spills, ship attacks, and energy exploration and production, NOAA added.
Related content
50 of the most endangered species on the planet
Whale Album: Giants of the Deepest
Great miracle: the real rescue in images
This article was originally published by Live Science. Read the original article here.