Pilot Whales
Globicephala macrorhynchus · also called Blackfish, Pothead Whale · Toothed whale
Pilot whales are large, highly social members of the dolphin family known colloquially as blackfish, recognized by their bulbous melon-shaped heads and tightly bonded pods.
Classification
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Cetacea |
| Family | Delphinidae |
| Genus | Globicephala |
| Species | macrorhynchus |
Description
Pilot whales are dark gray to black with a bulbous, rounded melon-shaped head and a low, forward-set dorsal fin. Two species exist, short-finned and long-finned, distinguished mainly by fin length and range.
Size
Males measure up to 24 feet and weigh as much as 3 tons; females are notably smaller, typically around 12–16 feet.
Did You Know?
Pilot whales are among the cetaceans most frequently involved in mass strandings, likely because their pods stay loyal to a distressed member even when it swims into shallow water.
Habitat
Pilot whales favor deep offshore waters, short-finned in tropical and warm-temperate seas, long-finned in cooler sub-polar and temperate waters.
Diet
Pilot whales feed mainly on squid, diving to depths of over 1,000 feet in search of prey, supplemented with fish.
Social structure
Pilot whales live in tight, stable matriarchal pods of a few dozen to several hundred individuals, with strong bonds thought to explain why entire pods sometimes strand together on beaches.
Communication
Pods communicate with a rich repertoire of whistles, clicks, and pulsed calls, with distinct vocal dialects between pods.
Whale Gifts
More Whale Gifts
