The range of True's beaked whales overlaps with that of the Antillean beaked whale but is more northerly.
The teeth of adult male True's beaked whales may be visible near the tip of the lower jaw, a characteristic shared with the goosebeaked whale (p. 70) and the northern bottlenosed whale (p. 67). Both these other species reach substantially greater maximum lengths than True's beaked whales, however, and should be readily distinguishable by this and the number of other highly distinctive characteristics of each species.
Females and subadult males may be confused with any of the beaked whales species (p. 74 and Fig. 78).
[Illustration: Figure 79.--Two views of the body of a stranded True's beaked whale from northeastern Florida. This species reaches at least 16 feet (4.9 m) and closely resembles the goosebeaked whale in general body shape. It is distributed in temperate waters from Nova Scotia to Florida. (_Photos courtesy of Marineland of Florida._)]
[Illustration: Figure 80.--The head of a True's beaked whale stranded in North Carolina. Note the small head, the pronounced beak, and the position of the blowhole in the indentation behind the forehead. The teeth, visible above the gums only in adult males, are in the position indicated by the arrow. The photo on the right shows the two V-shaped throat grooves characteristic of beaked whales. (_Photos from U.S. National Museum, courtesy of J. G. Mead._)]
_Mesoplodon europaeus_ (Gervais 1855) (equals _M. gervaisi_ [Deslongchamps])
Gulfstream beaked whale, Gervais' beaked whale.
Antillean beaked whales reach a length of at least 22 feet (6.7 m). They are slender in form and appear somewhat laterally compressed (i.e., taller than they are wide). The head is extremely small and tapers rapidly to a narrow beak. The flippers are small (to about one-twelfth the body length) with their origin well down on the sides of the body. The dorsal fin is small, located behind the midpoint of the back, and variable in shape from falcate to triangular. The flukes are less than one-fifth the body length and are not notched.
Antillean beaked whales are dark grayish black on the back and sides, slightly lighter on the abdomen. The flukes are dark gray above and below.