The French zoologist Henri de Blainville first described the species in 1817 from a small piece of jaw — the heaviest bone he had ever come across — which resulted in the name densirostris (Latin for "dense beak").

[3] In 1817, Blainville named the species Delphinus densirostris, based on the description of a nine-inch piece of rostrum of unknown origin housed in the Paris Museum.

[5][6] Sometimes called dense-beaked whale as the current Latin name (Mesoplodon densirostris) derives from densus for ‘dense’ and rostrum for ‘beak’ .

[3] For management purposes, Blainville's beaked whales inhabiting U.S. waters have been divided into the Hawaiian, northern Gulf of Mexico, and western North Atlantic stocks.

[3] The males have a highly distinctive appearance, the jaws overarch the rostrum, like a handful of other species, but does it towards the beginning of the mandible and then sloped down into a moderately long beak.

In adult males the crown of a tooth erupts from each side of the lower jaw as they reach maturity.

[3] This species of beaked whale is found in tropical and warm waters in all oceans, and is considered to be the most extensively distributed member of Mesoplodon genus.

Groups are regularly seen in at least three locations: Waianae coast, Hawaii; Society Islands of the South Pacific; northeastern Bahamas.

Resight rate is higher for females than males as they are more likely to base their distribution based on prey abundance when males follow females to increase mating opportunity [10] This species feeds primarily on squid and small fish[3] and cephalopods.

Harems of several females and a single mature male have been observed in productive continental shelf areas (eg.

[7] The function of the group formation is protection (for females with small calves) and mating opportunity (for adult males).

[22] Beaked whales are susceptible to detrimental effects of anthropogenic noise pollution because they use sound for hunting, communication and navigation.

[23] The broadband ship noise can cause a change in beaked whale behaviour up to 5.2 km from the boat.

Response is especially strong in noise-free areas where whales show avoidance of the noise which might be associated with life-threatening increased energetic costs.

[7] For more information about ongoing work on Blainville’s Beaked Whale check BMMRO and Cascadia Research Collective