For such large animals, Omura's whales are one of the most mysterious and elusive species in the world.

The species of whale was only discovered recently and had never been seen alive in the wild — until now.

But now an international team of scientists, led by Salvatore Cerchio of the New England Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, have released the first ever images and field observations of the little-known species of whale.

In a paper published in the Royal Society Open Science journal, the researchers made observations about the Omura's foraging techniques, vocalisations and habitat preferences by examining a population off the coast of Madagascar.

"What little we knew about these whales previously came primarily from eight specimens of Omura's whales taken in Japanese scientific whaling off the Solomon and Keeling Islands and a couple strandings of dead animals in Japan," Dr Cerchio said.

"This is the first definitive evidence and detailed descriptions of Omura's whales in the wild and part of what makes this work particularly exciting."

Omura's whales were only identified as a distinct species in 2003, and had for many years been misidentified as Bryde's whales.

There is still so little known about Omura's whales that scientists do not even know how many of the species exist.

"Over the years, there have been a small handful of possible sightings of Omura's whales, but nothing that was confirmed," Dr Cerchio said.

Dr Cerchio will return to the field later this month, where he will continue studying the species.

He hopes to produce the first abundance estimation of the whales, based off the Madagascar population.

The researchers have catalogued about 25 Omura's whales so far, using photographic identifications.