Register of Antarctic Species (RAS) - Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809)

(of Delphinus melas Traill, 1809) Traill, T. S. T. (1809). Description of a new species of whale, Delphinus melas. In a letter from Thomas Stewart Traill, M. D. to Mr. Nicholson. Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts. 22: 81--83., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/829112 [details]

Type data

Note Scapay Bay, Pomona, Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK

From editor or global species database

Type locality Scapay Bay, Pomona, Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK [details]

Descriptive notes

Distribution in all oceans except Northern Indian Ocean and North Pacific (where they occurred historically off Japan).

Distribution in all oceans except Northern Indian Ocean and North Pacific (where they occurred historically off Japan). [details]

Distribution Antarctica/Southern Ocean; Southeast Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean

Distribution Antarctica/Southern Ocean; Southeast Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean [details]

Taxonomic citation

Fordyce, E.; Perrin, W.F. (2025). World Cetacea Database. Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=137097 on 2025-04-19

Taxonomic edit history

Date

action

2004-12-21 15:54:05Z

created

van der Land, Jacob

2008-08-20 11:25:36Z

checked

Perrin, William

Licensing

The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

[taxonomic tree]

Nomenclature

original description (of Delphinus melas Traill, 1809) Traill, T. S. T. (1809). Description of a new species of whale, Delphinus melas. In a letter from Thomas Stewart Traill, M. D. to Mr. Nicholson. Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts. 22: 81--83., available online at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/829112 [details]

basis of record van der Land, J. (2001). Tetrapoda, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 375-376 (look up in IMIS) [details]

Ecology

ecology source Looby, A.; Erbe, C.; Bravo, S.; Cox, K.; Davies, H. L.; Di Iorio, L.; Jézéquel, Y.; Juanes, F.; Martin, C. W.; Mooney, T. A.; Radford, C.; Reynolds, L. K.; Rice, A. N.; Riera, A.; Rountree, R.; Spriel, B.; Stanley, J.; Vela, S.; Parsons, M. J. G. (2023). Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery. Scientific Data. 10(1). (look up in IMIS), available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02745-4 [details]

Other

context source (PeRMS) Reyes, J. (2009). Ballenas, delfines y otros cetáceos del Perú. Una fuente de información. Lima- Perú. Squema-Ediciones. 160 pp. [details]

additional source Carwardine, M., E. Hoyt, R. E. Fordyce and P. Gill. 1998. Whales, dolphins and porpoises. Time-Life Books. Nature Company Guides, USA. 288 p. [details]

additional source Animal Diversity Web. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. , available online at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html [details]

additional source Muller, Y. (2004). Faune et flore du littoral du Nord, du Pas-de-Calais et de la Belgique: inventaire. [Coastal fauna and flora of the Nord, Pas-de-Calais and Belgium: inventory]. Commission Régionale de Biologie Région Nord Pas-de-Calais: France. 307 pp., available online at http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/145561.pdf [details]

additional source Mead, J. G.; Brownell, R. L. Jr. (2005). Cetacea. In Wilson, D.E. & D.M. Reeder (eds). Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp. 723--743., available online at http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3/ [details]

additional source Rice, D. W. (1998). Marine mammals of the world. Systematics and distribution. Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication. 4., available online at http://www.marinemammalscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/MarineMammalsOfTheWorld.pdf [details]

additional source Hershkovitz, P. (1966). Catalog of Living Whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. (246): 1-259., available online at https://doi.org/10.5479/si.03629236.246 [details]

additional source Jefferson, T. A., M. A. Webber and R. L. Pitman. (2008). Marine mammals of the world. Academic Press, Amsterdam. [details]

additional source IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, available online at http://www.iucnredlist.org [details]

additional source Perrin, W.F.; Würsig, B.; Thewissen, J.G.M. (2009). Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Second edition. Academic Press: London. ISBN 978-0-12-373553-9. xxix, 1316 pp. (look up in IMIS) [details]

additional source King, C.M.; Roberts, C.D.; Bell, B.D.; Fordyce, R.E.; Nicoll, R.S.; Worthy, T.H.; Paulin, C.D.; Hitchmough, R.A.; Keyes, I.W.; Baker, A.N.; Stewart, A.L.; Hiller, N.; McDowall, R.M.; Holdaway, R.N.; McPhee, R.P.; Schwarzhans, W.W.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Rust, S.; Macadie, I. (2009). Phylum Chordata: lancelets, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals. in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 1. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. pp. 431-554. [details]

additional source Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). , available online at http://www.itis.gov [details]

Present

Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio

Inaccurate

Introduced: alien

Containing type locality

From editor or global species database

Diet squid mostly but also a variety of fish. [details]

Distribution in all oceans except Northern Indian Ocean and North Pacific (where they occurred historically off Japan). [details]

Distribution Antarctica/Southern Ocean; Southeast Pacific; Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Indo-West Pacific; Western Atlantic Ocean [details]

Habitat offshore; generally occupy areas of high relief or submerged banks. [details]

Holotype None; see Lectotype [details]

IUCN Red List Category Data Deficient (DD) [details]

Importance Are still hunted in Faero Islands. [details]

Lectotype Figured specimen, one of 92 whales stranded December 1806; skull in British Museum (Natural History), no. 363a--44.12.3.2, purchased 1844 from Traill. [details]

Morphology Distinguishing characteristics: black-coloured whales with a white belly, spherical melon and a robust body. No constriction at the neck and the body is quite cylindrical from the head backward to the region of the dorsal fin. Dorsal fin has a long base, it is low, directed backwards and is set for forward on the body. 8-13 teeth in each of the 4 jaws and flippers which are 1/5 of the body length. [details]

Reproduction Female matures sexually at 6-7 years, male not until 12 years. In North Atlantic, mate in February and March in warm water and the young are born between July and October 15 to 16 months later in cooler water. Nursed for 20 months. Remain with their mother for 2 years. [details]

Type locality Scapay Bay, Pomona, Orkney Islands, Scotland, UK [details]

Unreviewed

Dimensions Legth: male 13-25' (4-7.6 m), female 10-18 1/2' (3-5.6 m), at birth 6' (1.9 m) [details]

Habitat temperate and subpolar, mostly oceanic [details]

Predators None [details]

Definitions

Language	Name
Afrikaans	langvinloodswalvis	[details]
Arabic	kouraoui arras achaii	[details]
Basque	izurde pilotua	[details]
Catalan	cap d'olla negrecap d'olla	[details]
Croatian	kit debeloglavacbjelogrii dupin	[details]
Czech	kulohlavec černý	[details]
Danish	langluffet grindehvalgrind	[details]
Dutch	griend	[details]
English	social whaleround-headed porpoiseroundheadpotheadpilot whale [from synonym]northern pilot whalelong-finned pilot whaleIndian pilot whaledriving whalecommon pilot whalecommon blackfishcaa'ing whaleblackfishAtlantic blackfishAmerican black-fish	[details]
Faroese	grindaquealurgrindahvalur	[details]
Finnish	pallopaagrindvalas	[details]
French	globicéphale noirglobicéphale conducteurglobicéphale commundéducteurdauphin pilotechaudroncachelot svineval	[details]
Galician	caldeiro	[details]
German	SchwarzwalGrindwal	[details]
Hebrew	natav shachor	[details]
Icelandic	nydingurmarsvinleifturgrindhvalur	[details]
Indonesian	paus hitam	[details]
Italian	gobicefalo [from synonym]globicefalo neroglobicefalodelfino pilota	[details]
Kalaallisut	nisarnaq	[details]
Lithuanian	paprastoji grinda	[details]
Maltese	baliena sewda	[details]
Modern Greek (1453-)	Μαυροδέλφινοmavrodélfino	[details]
Norwegian	svinehvalgrinzehvalgrindhvalgrinde	[details]
Norwegian Bokmål	grindhval	[details]
Norwegian Nynorsk	grindkval	[details]
Polish	grindwal długopłetwyalbrzymi delfin	[details]
Portuguese	cachalote-añaoboca de panelabaleia piloto de peitoral longa	[details]
Russian	обыкновенная гриндаsharogolovyi delfingrindy	[details]
Slovenian	obloglavka	[details]
Spanish	morfinglobicefalo negrocalderón negrocalderón de aleta largacalderón comúncabeza de buzoballena piloto	[details]
Swedish	grindval	[details]
Turkish	uzun yüzgeçli kara balinasiyah yunus [from synonym]	[details]
Ukrainian	Звичайна гринда Гринда звичайна	[details]
Welsh	morfil pengrwn	[details]