Kogia sima
(R. Owen, 1866)
Dwarf Sperm Whale
Distribution :
Worldwide: warm-temperate to tropical waters, occasionally strands in cold-temperate areas.
Image courtesy of the ASM Mammal Images Library · MIL ID: 5647
Taxonomy
| Subclass | : Theria |
| Infraclass | : Placentalia |
| Magnorder | : Boreoeutheria |
| Superorder | : Laurasiatheria |
| Order | : Artiodactyla |
| Suborder | : Cetacea |
| Infraorder | : Odontoceti |
| Superfamily | : Physeteroidea |
| Family | : Kogiidae |
| Subfamily | : Kogiinae |
| Genus | : Kogia |
Species status
Authority citation
Owen, R. 1866-08-15. On some Indian Cetacea collected by Walter Elliot, Esq. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 6(2):17-47.
Authority publication link
Original name as described
Physeter (Euphysetes) simus
Other common names
Owen's Pygmy Whale · Snub-nosed Cachalot
Type material
BMNH:Mamm:1866.2.5.6
Type kind
holotype
Type specimen URI
Type locality
India, Andhra Pradesh (= Madras Presidency), "taken at Waltair, " near Vishaknaptnam.
Biogeographic realm
Marine
Country distribution
American Samoa · Angola · Anguilla · Antigua and Barbuda · Argentina · Aruba · Australia · Azores · Bahamas · Bangladesh · Barbados · Belize · Benin · Bermuda · Bonaire · Brazil · British Virgin Islands · Brunei · Cambodia · Cameroon · Canada · Canary Islands · Cape Verde · Cayman Islands · Chile · China · Cocos Islands · Colombia · Comoros · Cook Islands · Costa Rica · Cote d'Ivoire · Cuba · Curaçao · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Djibouti · Dominica · Dominican Republic · East Timor · Ecuador · El Salvador · Equatorial Guinea · Fiji · French Guiana · French Polynesia · Gabon · Galápagos Islands · Gambia · Ghana · Grenada · Guadeloupe · Guam · Guatemala · Guinea · Guinea-Bissau · Guyana · Haiti · Honduras · India · Indonesia · Iran · Jamaica · Japan · Kenya · Kiribati · Liberia · Madagascar · Madeira · Malaysia · Maldives · Marshall Islands · Martinique · Mauritania · Mauritius · Mayotte · Mexico · Micronesia · Montserrat · Morocco · Mozambique · Myanmar · Namibia · Nauru · New Caledonia · New Zealand · Nicaragua · Nigeria · Niue · Norfolk Island · North Korea · Northern Marianas · Oman · Pakistan · Palau · Panama · Papua New Guinea · Peru · Philippines · Pitcairn · Portugal · Puerto Rico · Republic of the Congo · Réunion · Saba · Saint Barthélemy · Saint Helena · Saint Kitts and Nevis · Saint Lucia · Saint Vincent and the Grenadines · Samoa · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Singapore · Sint Eustatius · Sint Maarten · Solomon Islands · Somalia · South Africa · South Korea · Spain · Sri Lanka · Suriname · São Tomé and Príncipe · Taiwan · Tanzania · Thailand · Togo · Tokelau · Tonga · Trinidad and Tobago · Turks and Caicos Islands · Tuvalu · United Arab Emirates · United Kingdom · United States · United States Virgin Islands · Uruguay · Vanuatu · Venezuela · Vietnam · Wallis and Futuna · Yemen · Eritrea? · Russia? · Sudan?
Subregion distribution
USA(AL, FL, GA, HI, LA, MI, NC, SC, TX, VA, NJ?, NY?)
Taxonomy notes
moved from Physeteridae to Kogiidae
Taxonomy notes citation
May-Collado, L. and Agnarsson, I. 2006. Cytochrome b and Bayesian inference of whale phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 38(2):344-354. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.09.019 · McGowen, M.R., Tsagkogeorga, G., Álvarez-Carretero, S., Reis, M. dos, Struebig, M., Deaville, R., Jepson, P.D., Jarman, S., Polanowski, A., Morin, P.A. and Rossiter, S.J. 2020. Phylogenomic resolution of the cetacean tree of life using target sequence capture. Systematic Biology 69(3):479-501. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syz068 · Maggioni, D., Pupillo, G., Rota, A., Ramazzotti, F., Martín, V., Poli, F. F., ... & Valsecchi, E. (2026). Eastern North Atlantic Strandings Validate Genetic Patterns in Pygmy and Dwarf Sperm Whales (Kogiidae). Marine Mammal Science, 42(3), e70230. https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70230Digital
IUCN Red List status
Least Concern
Species Permalink
Country distribution map
The map below provides a general overview. Most species inhabit only specific regions within countries. Known distribution is shown in green and predicted distribution is in yellow.Hover over the highlighted regions to see the country name.
Names and synonyms
Present and past (if available) associated names to the species. Click on a name to view its details.
Total: 5 names and synonyms.
Please send any edits, corrections, or unfilled data (including full citations) to mammaldiversity [at] gmail [dot] com.