Stranding of a juvenile pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps) in Utila Island, Honduras, with evidence of plastic ingestion in the Western Caribbean

The family Kogiidae comprises two extant toothed whales: the pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps Blainville, 1838) and the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima Owen, 1866).Reviewed by McAlpine (2018), Kogia spp.are small cetaceans that inhabit deep temperate and tropical waters near continental shelves and slopes worldwide.These species possess a blunt rostrum and a rounded melon, underlain by the spermaceti organ, a specialized fat-filled structure that aids in focusing echolocation clicks for prey detection and navigation in mid-to deep-water environments, including near the seafloor.Uniquely, Kogia spp.possess a specialized intestinal sac containing a reddish-brown 'ink-like' fluid stored in the colon, that can be forcibly expelled through the anus when threatened, producing a diffuse cloud likely functioning as a defensive mechanism to confuse predators.Adults of Kogia can reach up to 4.3 m in length and 515 kg in weight (McAlpine, 2018), but are generally smaller (2.7-3.8 m), and dive to 600-1,200 mbsl (Moura et al., 2016).Their recorded diet primarily includes cephalopods (squid, octopus), crustaceans (shrimp, crabs), and fish (Santos et al., 2006;West et al., 2009).Both Kogia species occur broadly throughout the Caribbean, Central, and South America, with records from Belize, Colombia, Cuba, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela,