A rare sighting of a bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon planifrons, Flower, 1882) in shallow waters off southeastern Brazil

59.7’S; 46 o 18.6’W), in waters from 6 to 16 m deep. As it is not usual to record whales so close to the shore in the main entrance of the port of Santos, the crew approached and made a 2-minute video of the specimen using a smartphone. No additional sightings nor stranding events of elusive cetacean species which might have given clues as to the destiny of this specimen were detected in the area in the following days. Based on the images recorded at distances ranging from 2 to 15 m, it was observed that the whale was swimming slowly. During a period of 99 seconds, a total of 11 blows was recorded, with a sequence of 5 surfacing bouts in the first 33 seconds when the boat came very close, and three blows within a period of 8 seconds before the whale dived for the remaining 35 seconds prior to the end of the recording. Images showed part of the whale’s body, from the forehead to the dorsal fin, closer glimpses of the forehead itself, its dorsum, the flukes from behind and the above-mentioned dive. These images allowed the authors to evaluate several details of the specimen’s morphology and color patterns, which were used for the identification of the species as southern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon planifrons. The clues used to identify the species were