Dwarf sperm whale in Cork the first to be seen in Ireland

A dwarf sperm whale like the one found in Co Cork. Picture: Irish Whale and Dolphin Group

A new species of whale to Ireland has been confirmed after a dwarf sperm whale was spotted in Co Cork earlier this month.

The whale was later found to have died but the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) stated that the species has previously never been recorded here.

Warmer waters linked to climate change may have been the reason the whale was off the Irish coast.

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It was first spotted stranded in Glengarriff, Co Cork, on May 1 and although it managed to refloat itself before a team arrived on the scene, it was found washed up dead the following day.

The IWDG said that upon seeing a video of the whale, it was "immediately clear that this was an unusual species".

The group was contacted by international experts who suggested it was actually a dwarf sperm whale due to its taller dorsal fin and smaller back.

The whale's carcass was recovered and a skin sample was sent to Dr Eileen Dillane, a geneticist at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UCC.

Species confirmed by genetic sequencing

Two of the three genes sequenced by Dr Dillane provided a 99% match with dwarf sperm whale specimens from the Western North Atlantic accessed through Genbank, thus confirming its species, said the IWDG.

Previously, the closest a dwarf sperm whale came to Ireland was in Britain. There is only one record of that species of whale being seen in Britain — in Cornwall in 2011.

"Whether we might expect more strandings of this “warm water” species in Ireland and the UK following the impacts of climate change remains to be seen, but it is very important to continue to report stranded cetaceans to the IWDG so we can monitor these trends into the future," said the IWDG.

A post-mortem of the whale found that there was no obvious cause of death, but confirmed it was a female.

The skeleton will now be prepared by the IWDG and donated to the National Museum of Ireland to be preserved by the State.