Highly read on www.cell.com 16 Nov–16 Dec

A paper titled “The world's rarest whale” documents the unprecedented beaching of two spade-toothed beaked whales (Mesoplodon traversii).

Members of this species, which haunt the deepest reaches of the South Pacific Ocean, had been known from only a tiny handful of bones and teeth. A mother and calf stranded in 2010 are thought to be the first to be seen in the flesh. The adult was about five metres long and patterned in black, white and grey. Initially misidentified as Gray's beaked whales (M. grayi), the rare animals were correctly identified thanks to DNA typing by Rochelle Constantine at the University of Auckland in New Zealand and her co-authors.

Curr. Biol. 22, R905–R906 (2012)