In response to the question posed in the article below, I imagine we know a lot less than we think we know... http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2237435 Nov. 20, 2003, 8:54AM Scientists may have discovered new whale species By ALEX DOMINGUEZ Associated Press Japanese scientists say they have identified a new species of whale -- a remarkable discovery if confirmed. The animal is a type of baleen, the family of whales that strain tiny plankton and other food from seawater, the researchers say. "Can you imagine? An animal of more than 10 meters was unknown to us even in the 21st century," said Tadasu Yamada of Tokyo's National Science Museum, the senior author of the study that appears in this week's issue of the journal Nature. Most baleens grow to enormous proportions, like the blue whale, which at 75 feet long and more than 100 tons is believed to be the largest animal that has ever lived. By comparison, the new species is on the small side at about 30 feet long and slender. While new species of smaller creatures such as insects, birds and amphibians are discovered every year, it is very unusual for scientists to identify a new mammal, particularly one so large. Most whale species were described during the 18th and 19th centuries when commercial whaling drove many to the brink of extinction. Scientists currently recognize 70 whale species, including as many as 12 types of baleen whales. But little is known about the subtle differences among many types of whales that are seldom seen by humans. The Japanese researchers made their discovery through DNA analysis of nine adult whale carcasses. Eight -- five females and three males -- were killed in 1970 for research in the eastern Indian Ocean and the Solomon Sea. At the time, scientists assumed they were undersized fin whales. A ninth whale -- a female -- was killed accidentally in the Sea of Japan in 1998. Fisherman towed it to Tsunoshima Island, where Yamada examined it. Later, he began comparing it to preserved samples of the eight whales in his nation's fisheries research collection. The anatomical and molecular comparison took several years. Nearly every whale carcass raises new possibilities. It could take additional studies over several years before other biologists accept the new whale species. The researchers named the new species Balaenoptera omurai in honor of the late Japanese whale researcher Hideo Omura. Some U.S. researchers are skeptical of the Nature report. James Mead, curator of marine mammals at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, said a more careful comparison is needed before a new species is accepted.
If it's true, that's a good story. Kind of ironic that it's the Japanese claiming credit for finding a new whale species though.
interesting they are going public on finding a new species, surely better to keep quiet and then just kill them all off for scientific puposes
Maybe just a marketing trick, like renaming the 'toothfish' to 'Chilean Seabass'. Or maybe because there will be no whaling limits on a new species?
