Traveling to unknown waters: cetáceos de 2 aletas

 2 mysterious cetaceans lost in the sea and in the waves of time

   When we talk about the sea we truly embark on a journey of limitless imagination, since the little-explored confines of the sea are home to different impressive creatures and countless species that remain undiscovered because today they remain a mystery.

And the immensity of the sea has given rise to endless strange anecdotes, sometimes from respected scientists or also from daring sailors who have managed to see some of the things and secrets that the sea protects, among them these cases that we will see today about two possible mysterious cetaceans that have not been explained or classified by science, come with me to see this.

Giglioli's mysterious whale

  This is a supposed cetacean, possibly a relative of whales and with the proposed scientific name Amphiptera pacifica, which was supposedly similar to the fin whales sighted at 1,200 off the Chilean coast by the naturalist Enrico Hillyer Giglioli in 1867.

According to the naturalist, this animal was so close to the ship that it could have been shot, but the zoologist needed not to hurt it since well, I'm sure he thought it was such an impressive animal that it didn't deserve to be killed, I describe the whale in detail as a fin whale about 18 m long and grayish in color, But what caught the most attention was the presence of two dorsal fins, something that no other cetacean currently has or in the fossil record, These are separated by two meters long, one near the head and the other going to the dorsal area, in addition to the presence of two sickle-shaped fins and the lack of the grooves in the lower throat characteristic of whales.

The naturalist observed the specimen for 15 minutes, until it was lost in the immense ocean. Curiously, the French zoologist Jacques Maigret sighted a similar creature in 1983 between Corsica, today it remains a mystery who that whale was or what became of it and if it truly existed or was it just a case of a malformation are questions that resonate to this day.

rhinoceros dolphin

 This would be a mysterious type of dolphin sighted off the Sandwich Islands and New South Wales in 1820, by Jean Rene' Constant Quoy (zoologist and anatomist) and Joseph Paul Gaimard (naturalist), immediately after seeing it, stated that it was a species that had never been seen before because they named it the rhinoceros dolphin, proposing the scientific name Delphinus rhinoceros. 

But unlike Giglioli's whale, it was not an isolated animal that was seen, since up to 9 dolphins were seen swimming together on those coasts, They said it was black with large white spots covering its skin, having its most distinctive feature, two dorsal fins on the body, a curved fin near the head and another on the back, although it is placed further back than the normal position of a dolphin's dorsal Finally, their pectoral fins also seemed to be on the larger side, furthermore these dolphins seemed to show no fear of the boat and approached voluntarily, almost touching the bow.

     [Illustrative table, (credits to his car)]

There have been many theories and explanations, such as the possibility of malformed dolphins, even a possible pareidolia produced by swimming in groups of these, although none has been proven But if they were truly a new and completely valid species, it is possible that they are already extinct or their number is very reduced, since since the first sighting they have not been seen again.

For at least a few decades the existence of these species was generally accepted, at least reluctantly by zoological entities, until they were finally classified as doubtful species or with insufficient data to be considered valid. 

But is this possible? explanation: 

Well, this is my favorite part, what is this pattern that was seen in those species? Well, the truth is that no cetacean currently or in the fossil record has two fins dorsals, a more likely explanation is that they were poorly formed or poorly identified animals, although I want to remind you of one thing.

Basically, mutations are a very common thing in the animal kingdom and it is possible that perhaps it is a mutation since the extra fins are a very common common mutation in cetaceans although strangely none were found with fins in the position where it is known that their vestigial fins should be.

       [Photo of dolphin with atavism]

In the end perhaps it was a mini evolutionary leap that did not go well since perhaps at some point cetaceans could have tried to develop more fins to be able to have more aerodynamics in the open ocean, but perhaps it went wrong and such a transition was never achieved because it only remained a simple and simple mutation that has not been seen again or who knows, maybe we are facing a very distant branch of the evolution of these mammals, which we will not see again or which may be present out there but very hidden in the wide and remote sea.

[Reading links]

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Delphinus-rhinoceros-Quoy-and-Gaimard-1824-a-cetacean-described-as-having-two-dorsal_fig5_346727476/amp.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptid_whale