Scientists detected a strange sound coming from the waters surrounding the San Benito Islands in Mexico in 2018, and scientists previously recorded another similar sound off the coast of California.

It is known that whales and dolphins have their distinctive voices, but this new voice - which was given the name "BW43" - was not like the sounds previously recorded.

Varied beak whales

Scientists at the time believed that this sound belonged to a type of beaked whale, "Mesoplodon perrini", which burrowed in the depths of the sea, and had never been seen alive before.

These beaked whales were identified after 5 bodies washed off the shores of California between 1975 and 1997.

Pyrenean whales are very similar to the mesoplodon hectori, and are often classified according to Hector's beak.

Beak whales are among the least known mammals in the world.

This is because it prefers to live in the far depths.

For example, last month a beak whale species recorded the deepest diving of a marine mammal on record.

The Cuvier's beaked whale spent nearly 4 hours underwater without breathing, and some of these Mesoplodon mirus weigh thousands of kilograms.

Scientists still recognize hundreds of these huge mammals, hundreds of years after the first beaked whale was named.

Scientists at first used to classify beaked whales into two types only, but now we know at least 23 species of them.

However, much is unknown about these creatures, which spend most of their time thousands of meters below the surface of the water.

Beak whales are recognized after their deaths (Silver Lips - Wikipedia)

Distinguishing Features

And recently, the expedition - led by scientists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on November 17th - identified 3 beaked whales, which floated on the surface of the water near them, and scientists took many photos And video recordings of these whales, and they set up a sound recorder to monitor the audio signals of these whales.

Samples were also collected from the environmental DNA (which is the DNA left over from organisms in the environment in which they live) of this foreign organism.

Although the samples are still being studied and analyzed, scientists suggest that they are a new organism that has not been recognized before.

According to a press release published by the association, scientists believe that these three whales do not belong to the species "mesoplodon perini" or to any of the species of the beaked whale family, and the sounds that have been observed do not resemble the sounds of any known whale species.

On this data collected, Jay Barlow - one of the leaders of the exploration mission - says that they "have identified a new object that has not been previously identified in such an area, and it does not resemble morphologically or acoustically any of the known organisms."

Environmental DNA samples provide evidence of whale species and their characteristics (Roland Adler - Wikipedia)

The problem of new classifications

Likewise, Sea Shepherds Association Campaigns Director Peter Hammerssted believes that "the discovery of a new species of beaked whale demonstrates the extent of the mystery that the oceans contain."

The classification of any new marine species requires a number of sufficient evidence and information, and the process of collecting this evidence is a painstaking matter for researchers who are tracking those marine creatures that dive into the distant depths, in addition to that the lack of information about beaked whales further complicates the matter.

Comparing these whale species is difficult in the absence of sufficient genetic evidence.

Therefore, collecting environmental DNA samples “from the waters in which these whales have dived provides definitive evidence of where these creatures have been,” says Elizabeth Henderson, a biological acoustics researcher involved in the expedition, as reported by Mongabay.

"We still hope that there are some of these remaining environmental nucleic acids for these organisms, whether it is from their sloughed skin in the water or some of their faeces," Henderson adds.