Outline of the research on Tsunoshima-kujira, Balaenoptera omurai, with the comments on the classification of so-called Bryde’s whales, B. edeni and B. brydei

Abstract

Balaenoptera omurai Wada, Oishi et Yamada, 2003 has been recently added to science on the bases of morphology and molecular biology of the holotype stranded on the Tsunoshima Island, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan in September, 1998 and eight paratypes caught in the lower latitudinal Indo Pacific waters by Japanese research whaling vessels in the late 1970s. Wada et al.(2003) also specifically split Balaenoptera edeni Anderson, 1878/9 into B. edeni (Eden's whale ; Katsuo kujira) and B. brydei Olsen, 1913 (Bryde's whale ; Nitari-kujira). Here we summarize the procedure of study of Balaenoptera omurai.