Northern Bottlenose Whale

This northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus, washed up on the south Iceland coastline at a favourite bird watching spot of ours near Stokkseyri the other day. Bottlenose whale sightings are fairly infrequent here and it was interesting to get a good view of this specimen. The whale was more than 8 metres in length and probably weighed in excess of 7 tons. Bottlenose whales (so called because when you see them from above the head and neck resemble a bottle, hence the ampullatus in the scientific name; incidentally, Hyperoodon means 'above tooth') belong to the rather mysterious family of beaked whales, Ziphiidae.

The lava rocks on which the carcass rests are of great interest as they comprise part of the enormous lava flow called Þjórsárhraun. This is thought to be the largest post glacial lava flow on the planet and is of great interest to geologists.