Alaska holds more recorded sightings of this deep-diving whale than any other US state, though the total remains small. Reports come mostly from offshore surveys in the Gulf of Alaska and the deep water off the Aleutian Island chain, where the continental shelf drops steeply, exactly the kind of deep-water habitat this species needs.
It has a small head, a short beak, and pale scarring that builds up on many adults over a lifetime. It hunts squid and deep-water fish using sound, diving far below the surface and staying down for exceptionally long stretches, which is part of why it’s rarely seen even where it’s genuinely present.
Alaska’s record for this species stays sparse enough that no clear seasonal pattern has emerged yet. That’s a reporting gap tied to how little offshore survey effort reaches Alaska’s remote waters, not evidence the whale keeps to a narrow season.
Full species profile
