Documented hybridisations between cetaceans

When species interbreed

The 52 Hz whale is probably a blue × fin hybrid. Wholphins (false killer whale × common bottlenose dolphin) have been born in captivity. This overview lists the hybridisations documented in the wild and in captivity, and their importance for genetic conservation.

Going further

Genetics sheds light on evolution: sequenced genomes, interactive phylogeny, evolution of cetaceans and demographics.

Interspecific hybridisation: more frequent than was believed

Hybridisation between cetacean species, long treated as anecdotal, is documented by genetics in unexpected proportions. The best-known case is the narluga, a narwhal and beluga hybrid, revealed in 2019 by genomic analysis of a skull collected in Greenland in the 1980s (Skovrind et al., Scientific Reports).

Other confirmed cases: blue whale × fin whale hybrids (Bérubé & Aguilar 1998), the wholphin (false killer whale × common bottlenose dolphin) born in captivity in Hawaii in 1985, documented hybrids between common dolphin and striped dolphin in the Mediterranean. These hybridisations raise questions about the cohesion of species and about speciation, and they complicate the conservation of small populations such as the Southern Resident Killer Whales.