Distribution of Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii)

Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii) are generallyconsidered to be uncommon to rare, and likely to preferdeep oceanic waters of the Southern Hemisphere. Duringmany top-predator surveys in the Southern Ocean since1988 we did not sight the species. However, in April2022 we encountered three groups in the marginalsea-ice zone of the Weddell Sea. This study providesdetailed descriptions of the sighted animals and theirenvironment and report on unpublished sightings of thisspecies from 1986 to 1998. A search of publishedinformation on the distribution of the species revealed108 documented sightings with a total of 1,125 individuals.In combination these sources of information for the SouthernOcean, suggest a frequent occurrence in ice-covered waters,often close to the continental coast and edges of fast iceand ice-shelves. North of 60S, in the temperate regions ofthe Southern Hemisphere, the species was also regularlysighted near continents, even far inshore, in fjordssurrounded by land