Cuvier's beaked whales could hold the marine mammal world record for breath-holding.
Researchers attached a satellite tag to one of the whales and found it made a two hour and 17 minute dive that was 1.9 miles deep, Reuters reported.
Theses beaked whales have high levels of the myoglobin protein in their muscles, which allows for superior oxygen storage by functioning like hemoglobin in the blood, the BBC reported.
"One key adaptation that seems to allow beaked whales to dive more deeply than other species is a dramatic reduction in air spaces within their bodies," Erin Falconea, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, told the BBC.
"It is the presence of air spaces within the body that would crush a human at a fraction of the depths these whales can dive," she said. "Reduction in air spaces not only makes them more 'crush resistant', but also likely serves to reduce the uptake of dissolved gases into their tissues - which can lead to decompression sickness or 'the bends'."
The record for a person holding their breath underwater is 22 minutes; the whale far surpasses this, not to mention the fact that it plunged to bone-crushing depths, Reuters reported.
"This species is highly adapted to deep diving, spending less than two minutes at the surface between dives," Greg Schorr of the Cascadia Research Collective told Reuters. "These are social, warm-blooded mammals that have adapted to actively pursue their prey at astounding depths - all while up to 1.8 miles away from their most basic physiological need: air."
Sperm whales also dive down into the ocean's depths to get prey, but they rarely go deeper than six-tenths of a mile. Elephant seals have also been known to dive as low as 1.5 miles for about two hours, but this is not a frequent occurrence and requires a long recovery time.
