Mysterious whale revealed to be a ‘living fossil’ as member of a family that vanished from the oceans two million years ago

Pygmy right whales are one of the most mysterious creatures in the oceans, with little known about them.

19 December 2012 (Lewis Smith).

• Pygmy right whale was first discovered in the nineteenth century
• At 21 feet long it is the smallest of the baleen whales

Pygmy right whales are the last survivors of an aquatic family that evolved 15 million years ago, scientists have found.

The whales are among the world’s most mysterious creatures but are finally yielding their secrets to researchers.

Little is known of how pygmy right whales, Caperea marginata, behave, what they eat nor how many there are in the world’s oceans.

It isn’t even clear if they are solitary or social animals but scientists are now convinced they have established its origins.

Molecular analysis, combined with studies of their bone structure from fossils and other remains, has revealed it is the only survivor of a family thought to have gone extinct two million years ago.

Felix Marx, of the University of Otago in New Zealand, said : ‘The living pygmy right whale is, if you like, a remnant, almost like a living fossil.

‘It’s the last survivor of quite an ancient lineage that until now no one thought was around.’

The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society : Biological Sciences, concluded that it belongs in the Cetotheriidae family of whales and that it probably evolved nine million years ago.

They are a type of baleen whales but the six other species believed to make up the Cetotheriidae family have all died out.

Until the study was carried out it was thought their closest relatives were species including the humpback and bowhead whales.

Moreover, it would now appear the species should never have been dubbed a right whale as it is in a family of its own.

Pygmy right whales are thought to be the smallest of the baleen whales and grow to about 21 feet (6.5m).

It is believed that they are limited to the Southern Ocean and the researchers, reporting their findings, described it as a mysterious animal.

‘The pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata, is the smallest, most cryptic and least known of the living baleen whales,’ they said.

‘Little is known of Caperea in terms of musculoskeletal functional systems, feeding and social behaviour, and distribution in relation to oceanic conditions.’

The first records of the species date back to the mid nineteenth century from remains washed up on beaches.

It was recognised as having an unusual bone structure, including an arched snout, but only now has its position on the whale family tree been established.

Few fossil remains have been found and only a few dozen specimens have been found washed up on beaches.

This southern right whale was, until the new study, thought to be a close relative of the pygmy right whale.

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