CreatureData

Hector's beaked whale

Mesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871)

DDData Deficientwhales and dolphins

The hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori) is a species in the family Hyperoodontidae, order Cetacea. Recorded adults weigh 900 kg to 1 t and live up to 30 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Data Deficient.

Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori)
Photo: Alessio Marrucci · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the hector's beaked whale

Weight
900 kg – 1 tsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
30 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Active
Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
Lifestyle
Marinesrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Data Deficient (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the hector's beaked whale live?

Not recorded

What is the hector's beaked whale?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori) is a small mesoplodont living in the Southern Hemisphere. This whale is named after Sir James Hector, a founder of the colonial museum in Wellington, New Zealand. The species has rarely been seen in the wild.

Some data supposedly referring to this species, especially juveniles and males, turned out to be based on the misidentified specimens of Perrin's beaked whale - especially since the adult male of Hector's beaked whale was only more recently described.

From the Wikipedia article “Hector's beaked whale” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hector%27s_beaked_whale&oldid=1356011849), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the hector's beaked whale endangered?

The hector's beaked whale is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List: it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Data Deficient species. What the categories mean.

How is the hector's beaked whale classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderCetacea
  5. familyHyperoodontidae
  6. genusMesoplodon
  7. SpeciesMesoplodon hectori (Gray, 1871)

Synonyms Berardius hectori, Mesoplodon hectori, Mesoplodon knoxi, Paikea hectori

Other names and names in other languages (21)
  • Hector s beaked whaleEnglish
  • Hector’s beaked whaleEnglish
  • Hector’s beaked whaleEnglish
  • Skew-beaked whaleEnglish
  • Skew-beaked whaleEnglish
  • Hector-snoetwalvisAfrikaans
  • Hectors ZweizahnwalGerman
  • Hector-SchnabelwalGerman
  • zifio de HectorSpanish
  • Ballena de Pico de HéctorSpanish
  • ballena de picuda de HectorSpanish
  • ballena picuda de HectorSpanish
  • delfin picudo de HectorSpanish
  • Zifio de HéctorSpanish
  • VinonokkavalasFinnish
  • mesoplodon de HectorFrench
  • baleine à bec de HectorFrench
  • Mésoplodon de HectorFrench
  • ニュージーランドオウギハクジラJapanese
  • baleia bicuda de HectorPortuguese
  • Hector gagalı balinasıTurkish

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the hector's beaked whale

Other species in the same genus Mesoplodon.

CompareHector's beaked whale vs Sowerby's beaked whaleHector's beaked whale vs Blainville's beaked whaleHector's beaked whale vs Spade-toothed whaleHector's beaked whale vs Gervais's beaked whale

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the hector's beaked whale?

An adult hector's beaked whale weighs 900 kg – 1 t, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the hector's beaked whale endangered?

The hector's beaked whale is listed as Data Deficient on the IUCN Red List, meaning it has too little data for its risk to be assessed.

How long does the hector's beaked whale live?

The hector's beaked whale has a recorded lifespan of 30 years.

What kind of animal is the hector's beaked whale?

The hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori) belongs to the family Hyperoodontidae in the order Cetacea.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/hectors-beaked-whale

MLA

“Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/hectors-beaked-whale.

BibTeX
@misc{hectors_beaked_whale_2026,
  title = {Hector's beaked whale (Mesoplodon hectori)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/hectors-beaked-whale},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}