Gervais' Beaked Whale - History of Discovery

History of Discovery

Sometime between 1836 and 1841, a captain of one of the ships of the French merchant and armorer Abel Vautier came across a large animal floating at the entrance to the English Channel, its body covered by swarming gulls. He cut the head off and transported it to Caen, where he presented it to Vautier. Vautier in turn offered it to the anatomist Deslongchamps. The specimen somehow made its way to the French scientist Paul Gervais, who described it as a new species in 1855. For several decades this remained as the only known specimen of this species, with many disregarding its specific status and claiming it merely represented an aberrant adult Sowerby's beaked whale. The species’ identity was confirmed by the discovery of two specimens from New Jersey, an immature male captured near Atlantic City in 1889 and an adult female found stranded at North Long Branch in 1905.