Dead whale found in waters here among most elusive of its kind

Little is known about the Omura’s whale, described as new species to science in 2003

- BNB Diviyadhaarshini

The carcass of a whale found in the waters off Tanjong Pagar on Sept 6, 2025, has been identified as an Omura’s whale, or Balaenoptera omurai, which is among the world’s most elusive baleen whale species.

Its biology, population, habitat and ecology “are largely unknown or poorly known”, Marcus Chua, assistant senior curator of mammalia of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) at the science faculty of the National University of Singapore, told The Sunday Times on June 6.

He noted that the Omura’s whale was described as a new species to science only in 2003, and scientists know so little about it that in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List classification of species extinction threat, it is listed as “data deficient”.

There is no information about how many of these whales exist in the wild, and little is known about their migration patterns.

They are found primarily in warm and shallow coastal waters, across the Indo-west Pacific, including South-east Asian waters, the Indian Ocean, the north-west Pacific Ocean and Oceania, said the museum.

The recovered whale, identified as a sub-adult male, was likely in its late teens, said Chua, adding that an Omura’s whale reaches adulthood at about 20 years. There is no information about their lifespan.