Leonhard Hess Stejneger collected the type specimen (a beach-worn skull) on Bering Island in 1883, from which Frederick W. True provided the species' description in 1885.

In 1904, the first complete skull (from an adult male that had stranded near Newport, Oregon) was collected, which confirmed the species' validity.

The teeth of the males are much larger than those of most other mesoplodonts and point forwards and inwards right in front of the apex.

This is the northernmost species of beaked whale in the Pacific Ocean, ranging up into the Bering Sea.

Adult males fight each other extensively, and some specimens have been found with healed jaw fractures.