04/08/2026
A rare discovery in Sri Lankan waters!
‘First record of Omura's whale, Balaenoptera omurai, in Sri Lankan waters’, a study authored by Dr Asha de Vos, documents a remarkable discovery made on 5 February 2017 during one of Oceanswell's routine cetacean surveys off Sri Lanka's southern coast. During the survey, Dr Asha and her team documented an Omura's whale (Balaenoptera omurai), the first confirmed record of the species in Sri Lankan waters and the central Northern Indian Ocean. At first glance, this small baleen whale could easily have been mistaken for the more commonly seen Bryde's whale. However, careful examination of photographs revealed several distinctive features unique to Omura's whales, including, an asymmetrical lower jaw, a single prominent rostral ridge, right side blaze and asymmetrical chevron on both right and left sides and a strongly curved (falcate) dorsal fin. Originally misclassified as a pygmy form of Bryde's whale in the 1970s, the Omura's whale was formally described as a distinct species in 2003 (Wada et al., 2003). This finding highlights how much there is still to discover beneath Sri Lanka's waters and why long-term marine research is so important.
To explore the full article, head to the ‘Publications’ section on the Oceanswell.
References:
de Vos, A. (2017) 'First record of Omura's whale, Balaenoptera omurai, in Sri Lankan waters', Marine Biodiversity Records, 10(18), pp. 1–4. https://doi://0.1186/s41200-017-0121-2
Wada, S., Oishi, M. and Yamada, T.K. (2003) 'A newly discovered species of living baleen whale', Nature, 426(6964), pp. 278–281. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02103
