Higher Classification: > Kingdom Animalia > Subkingdom Eumetazoa > Phylum Chordata > Subphylum Vertebrata > Infraphylum Gnathostomata > Megaclass Tetrapoda > Class Mammalia > Subclass Theria > Order Cetartiodactyla > Suborder Cetancodonta > Infraorder Cetacea > Superfamily Odontoceti > Family Delphinidae > Genus Peponocephala

Peponocephala electra (Gray, 1846)

Rank: Species
Taxon Status: accepted

Original genus

Lagenorhynchus Brunet, 1965

Relationships towards this taxon

Genus group names

*Peponocephala*	Nishiwaki & Norris, 1966	accepted genus name

Vernaculars (+) (-)

Afrikaans: bolkopdolfyn

Dutch: witlipgriend

English: blackfish; Electra dolphin; Hawaiian blackfish; Indian broad-beaked dolphin; many-toothed blackfish; melon-headed dolphin; melon-headed whale sources: Shirihai, H. (2002). A complete guide to Antarctic Wildlife: the Birds and Marine Mammals of the Antarctic Continent and the Southern Ocean. Alula Press FI 510 pp.;North-West Atlantic Ocean species (NWARMS)

French: péponocéphale

German: Breitschnabeldelfin sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Greek: Πεπονοκέφαλο δελφίνι sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Indonesian: paus pemangsa kecil; temu kebon

Italian: balena dalla testa di melone; peponocefalo sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Japanese: kazuha gondo kujira; カズハゴンドウ sources: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. (2009 onwards). Biological Information System for Marine Life (BISMaL). Accessed on 2018-11-21.

Korean: goyang-i-gorae

Lithuanian: pūstagalvis delfinas sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Polish: melonogłów elektra sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Portuguese: golfinho cabeça de melão

Russian: shirokoklyuvyi delfin

Spanish, Castillian: ballena melon; calderon pequeno; delfín cabeza de melón; tonina negra

Thai: plaloma hua klom; plaloma hua taengmo

Turkish: elektra balinası sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Ukrainian: бездзьобий дельфін; Бесклювий; дельфін; Дельфін бездзьобий; широкопикий sources: PESI (A Pan-European Species directories Infrastructure) focal points

Welsh: morfil pen pwmpen

Literature

basis of record	van der Land, J. (2001). Tetrapoda, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 375-376
additional source	Schmidly, D. J. and B. Würsig. 2009. Mammals (Vertebrata: Mammalia) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 1343–1352 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.
additional source	Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
additional source	King, C.M.; Roberts, C.D.; Bell, B.D.; Fordyce, R.E.; Nicoll, R.S.; Worthy, T.H.; Paulin, C.D.; Hitchmough, R.A.; Keyes, I.W.; Baker, A.N.; Stewart, A.L.; Hiller, N.; McDowall, R.M.; Holdaway, R.N.; McPhee, R.P.; Schwarzhans, W.W.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Rust, S.; Macadie, I. (2009). Phylum Chordata: lancelets, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals. in: Gordon, D.P. (Ed.) (2009). New Zealand inventory of biodiversity: 1. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. pp. 431-554.
additional source	Jefferson, T. A. and N. B. Barros. (1997). Peponocephala electra. Mammalian Species 553:1--6.
additional source	Jefferson, T. A., M. A. Webber and R. L. Pitman. (2008). Marine mammals of the world. Academic Press, Amsterdam.
additional source	Perrin, W.F.; Würsig, B.; Thewissen, J.G.M. (2009). Encyclopedia of marine mammals. Second edition. Academic Press: London. ISBN 978-0-12-373553-9. xxix, 1316 pp.
additional source	Liu, J.Y. [Ruiyu] (ed.). (2008). Checklist of marine biota of China seas. China Science Press. 1267 pp.
additional source	IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
additional source	Mead, J. G.; Brownell, R. L. Jr. (2005). Cetacea. In Wilson, D.E. & D.M. Reeder (eds). Mammal Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2,142 pp. 723--743.
additional source	Rice, D. W. (1998). Marine mammals of the world. Systematics and distribution. Society for Marine Mammalogy Special Publication. 4.
additional source	Hershkovitz, P. (1966). Catalog of Living Whales. Bulletin of the United States National Museum. (246): 1-259.
ecology source	Looby, A.; Erbe, C.; Bravo, S.; Cox, K.; Davies, H. L.; Di Iorio, L.; Jézéquel, Y.; Juanes, F.; Martin, C. W.; Mooney, T. A.; Radford, C.; Reynolds, L. K.; Rice, A. N.; Riera, A.; Rountree, R.; Spriel, B.; Stanley, J.; Vela, S.; Parsons, M. J. G. (2023). Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery. Scientific Data. 10(1).

Genbank

Citation

Fordyce, E.; Perrin, W.F. (2025). World Cetacea Database. Peponocephala electra (Gray, 1846). Via: Costello, M.J.; Bouchet, P.; Boxshall, G.; Arvantidis, C.; Appeltans, W. (2011) European Register of Marine Species, Accessed through PESI at http://www.eu-nomen.eu/portal/taxon.php?GUID=urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:137103