pygmy right whale
caperea marginata latin

Also a few pygmy right whales are known to have been caught in fishing nets.

The pygmy right whale is rarely encountered and consequently little studied.

Only the pygmy right whale is smaller.

On account of its relatively small size and sparse distribution the pygmy right whale has rarely been taken by whalers.

The minke whales are the second smallest baleen whale; only the pygmy right whale is smaller.

Analysis of the stomach contents of dead pygmy right whales indicates that it feeds on copepods and euphausiids.

Caperea (Pygmy right whale)

Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata) currently classified in its own family Neobalaenidae.

Neobalaenidae (Pygmy Right Whale)

Despite its name, the pygmy right whale may have more in common with the gray whale and rorquals than the bowhead and right whales.

The much smaller pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) of the Southern Hemisphere is considered to be in different family, Neobalaenidae.

The pygmy right whale is found in the Southern Ocean in the lower reaches of the Southern Hemisphere, and feeds on copepods and euphausiids.

The arched jawline is not as pronounced as other right whales and may not be sufficient to distinguish a pygmy right whale from a minke whale.

The common minke whale is the smallest of the rorquals, and one of the smallest baleen whales (second smallest only to the Pygmy Right Whale).

Among rorquals, only the Common Minke Whale is smaller, and among baleen whales the Pygmy Right Whale is also smaller.

Most data about pygmy right whales come from individual specimens washed up on coastlines; they are rarely encountered at sea and so they are not the primary subject of any whale watching cruises.

Until recently, the family Cetotheriidae was thought to be extinct, but a recent study strongly suggests that the pygmy right whale Caperea marginata is a living relic of this otherwise extinct group.

However, the phylogenetic studies conducted by Fordyce and Marx (2013) recovered the living pygmy right whale as a member of Cetotheriidae; if confirmed these results would resurrect Cetotheriidae from extinction.

The pygmy right whale (Capera marginata), a much smaller whale of the Southern Hemisphere, was also included in the Balaenidae family, but has recently been found to warrant a separate family, Neobalaenidae.

The Pygmy right whale is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

The Pygmy right whale is also covered by Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MOU).

The pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata) is not a right whale at all but is instead a member of the cetotheres, a family of baleen whales, which until 2012 have been believed to be extinct; previously C. marginata was considered the sole member of the family Neobalaenidae.

In research findings published on December 18, 2012, paleontologist Felix Marx compared the skull bones of pygmy right whales to those of other extinct cetaceans, finding it to be a close relative to the cetotheriidae, making the pygmy right whale a living fossil.

Pygmy Right Whale (Caperea marginata) currently classified in its own family Neobalaenidae.