Kogia sima (Owen 1866)

Tiene unos tres metros de longitud, con la mandíbula inferior parecida a la de los escualos. Es negro dorsálmente y de color gris claro en su cara ventral y tiene la boca de un color rojizo. La cabeza es redondeada y contiene el órgano del espermaceti. Se alimenta de cefalópodos. Procede del océano índico, tiene un hocico pronunciadamente vuelto hacia arriba, sólo 9 dientes en la mandíbula inferior y dos en la superior. El nombre de Kogia se cree que deriva de un viejo turco llamado Kogia Effendi que se interesó mucho por las ballenas.

Family Kogiidae - Pygmy and Dwarf Sperm Whale (2 species in 1 genus)

The pygmy and dwarfspermwhales are much smaller and share only a slight resemblance to the greatspermwhale. They have blunt squarish heads, with underslung lower jaws (like their larger counterparts), but the head is much smaller than in thespermwhale, and theblowholeis not located at the front of the head as it is in thespermwhale. The skull structure is curious; it shares a basin-like facial area and great asymmetry with thespermwhale, but is much shorter. Thedorsal finin both species is larger than that of thespermwhale. Thebiologyof theseanimalsis very poorly known.

Genera

GenusKogiacontaining 2 species:
Kogiabreviceps(Pygmyspermwhale)
Kogiasimus(Dwarfspermwhale)