BBC Wildlife - UK (2019-12)

78 BBCWildlife December 2019

WHALES AND DOLPHINS

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Caro

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Conservat

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A

ustrat

ons

by

Mart

nCamm

Namingnewspeciescanbefun.Afriend

of mine oncenamedaseaslugaerhis

wife (she was not amused).

Left:dorsalfinvariationsin the

falsekillerwhale.Below:revealed

againsta darkbackground,these

seiwhaleblowsareeasily10mtall.

Bottomleft:theundersideofa

Perrin’sbeakedwhale’stailhas

a distinctive starburst pattern.

ofinformationthatgraduallybuilda more

coherentpictureovermanyyears.It is like

piecingtogetheranenormouslycomplicated

jigsawpuzzle,whereeachpiecebringswith

it newquestionsandunexpectedsurprises.

Thegoodnewsis thatwehaveprobably

addedmorepiecesin the past 10 or 20 years

thaneverbefore.

Ageofdiscovery

It’shardtobelieve,butsomecetaceanshave

neverbeenseenalive:Perrin’sbeakedwhale,

forexample,is knownonlyfroma handfulof

strandingsinsouthernCalifornia.Othersare

stillbeingdiscovered.WhenI wrotea field

guidetowhales,dolphinsandporpoises 25

yearsago,therewere 79 recognisedspecies.

InmynewHandbookof Whales,Dolphinsand

Porpoisesthereare 90 differentspecies.The

numbersareslightlycomplicated,because

twospeciesintheoriginalguidehavesince

beencombined(theIndusriverdolphin

andGangesriverdolphinarecurrently

consideredtobeoneandthesame– justthe

SouthAsianriverdolphin)andtwoturned

outtobea singlespecies(thelesserbeaked

whaleandso-calledunidentifiedbeaked

whalearenowknownasthePeruvianbeaked

whale).Takingthesechangesintoaccount,in

justa quarterofa century,nofewerthan 13

newspecieshavebeendiscovered.

Buthowdoyougoaboutidentifyinga new

speciesandgettingit officiallyrecognisedby

thescientificworld?Well,usually,it’sa long

andtime-consumingprocess.

First,youhaveto makesurethatyour

discoveryhasneverbeendescribedbefore.

Thenyoudesignatewhat’scalledthe

‘holotype’– a singlespecimenthatshowsthe

keyfeaturesfortheentirespecies(ideally,you

shouldalsodesignatea seriesof‘paratypes’

• relatedspecimensthatshowadditional
  features,suchasdifferentcolourpatterns,or
  juveniles,ora femaleif theholotypeis male).
  Nextyouhaveto writea formaldescription,
  including all the anatomical, genetic,

behaviouralandotherfeaturesthatmarkit out

asbeinguniqueandnew.

And,at last,youhavetocomeupwithtwo

newnames:a uniquescientificnameanda

commonname,which,inevitably,willvary

fromlanguagetolanguageandregionto

region.Thiscanbesurprisinglydifficult.I

havehadlengthydebateswithbeakedwhale

expertsaroundtheworldaboutwhether

tocallthesmallestmemberofthebeaked

whalefamilythePeruvianbeakedwhale(its

originalname)orthepygmybeakedwhale

(a morerecent,popularname).Aftermany

sleepless nights, I opted for Peruvian. But

namingnewspeciescanbefun.A friendof

mineoncenameda seaslugafterhiswife

(shewasnotamused),whileCarlLinnaeus,

the18th-centuryfatheroftaxonomy,

famouslynamedanunpleasant-smelling

weedafteroneofhisenemies.

Onceyou’vedoneallthisgroundwork,

youhavetopublishit ina recognised,

internationallyaccessibleand(ideally)peer-

reviewedscientificjournal.Thenyoukeepall

yourfingersandtoescrossed– sometimes

foryears– inthehopethatyourcolleagues,

andthepowersthatbe,willagreewithyour

proposal.Intheworldofwhales,dolphins

andporpoises,theultimatearbiteris the

SocietyforMarineMammalogy,which,in

turn,adherestoopinionsanddirections

issuedbytheInternationalCommission

onZoologicalNomenclature.

If allgoeswell,andtheydoagree,then

congratulations.You have officially named

a new species.

MARKCARWARDINEisa renowned

whaleexpert,conservationistand

our regular columnist (see page 27).