Diving and night-time behavior of long-finned pilot whales in the Ligurian Sea

Baird, Robin W.; Borsani, J. Fabrizio; Hanson, M. Bradley; Tyack, Peter L.

doi:10.3354/meps237301

Cited by 85 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…and Pinnoctopus cordiformis, Beatson et al (2007a) suggested that long-finned pilot whales stranded in the vicinity of Golden Bay had previously been foraging both near the surface of the water column and on the sea bed, most likely at depths shallower than 150 m. The same would appear true for those whales involved in the 2008 stranding and is relatively consistent with, albeit somewhat shallower than, the foraging behaviour of long-finned pilot whales reported elsewhere. For example, Gannon ( 1995) suggested that long-finned pilot whales off the east coast of the United States foraged at 70-165 m in depth, while Desportes & Mouritsen (1993) suggested that around the Faroe Islands this species feeds at depths between 100 and 500 m. Time-depth recorders deployed on longfinned pilot whales in the Ligurian Sea have recorded foraging dives of between 72 and 648 m (Baird et al 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stomach contents of long‐finned pilot whales,Globicephala melas, mass‐stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay in 2005 and 2008

Beatson

O’Shea

2009

New Zealand Journal of Zoology

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New data are reported on the diet of the long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas, based on stomach contents recovered from whales involved in a mass stranding on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay, South Island, on 23 January 2008. The stomachs of 11 whales were examined, from which identifiable prey remains were recovered from six, four females and two males (3.1-5.4 m in length). Prey remains comprised exclusively cephalopod beaks (1-46 beaks per whale), attributed to two genera in two orders: arrow squid, Nototodarus spp. (Teuthoidea: Ommastrephidae), and common octopus, Pinnoctopus cordiformis (Octopoda: Octopodidae). The stomachs of eight whales were infested with parasitic nematodes, with two ulcerated; the stomachs of five whales did not contain any prey remains. These data complement and are comparable to the only other information available for this species from this region, reported from whales mass-stranded at this same location in December 2005. Lower beak rostral length versus mantle length and biomass regression equations for Nototodarus spp. are reviewed, highlighting the importance of the use of species-specific regression equations for reconstructing both cephalopod mantle length and biomass from lower beak remains in dietary studies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stomach contents of long‐finned pilot whales,Globicephala melas, mass‐stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay in 2005 and 2008

Beatson

O’Shea

2009

New Zealand Journal of Zoology

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“…Oceanic whitetip movement data recorded by archival satellite tags (Howey-Jordan et al 2013) revealed that they primarily occupy the epipelagic zone but make consistent, though relatively infrequent, excursions into the mesopelagic zone. These excursions are typical of animals that dive to feed on deep-scattering layer organisms such as squids, as has been observed in blue sharks (Carey et al 1990, Howey 2010, pan tropical spotted dolphins Stenella attenuata (Baird et al 2001), and short-finned pilot whales Globicephala macro rhynchus (Baird et al 2002). Oceanic whitetips have been observed to associate with pilot whales, which are primarily squid feeders (Gannon et al 1997a,b, Mintzer et al 2008, and once corrected for marine mammal-specific DTDFs, δ 13 C and δ…”

Section: Shark Dietmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet shift and site-fidelity of oceanic whitetip sharks Carcharhinus longimanus along the Great Bahama Bank

Madigan

Brooks²,

Bond³

et al. 2015

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Identifying the driving forces behind oceanic pelagic shark movements is key to a better understanding of their life history. Some oceanic pelagic shark species have been shown to aggregate in specific regions to mate and/or exploit abundant food resources. The oceanic whitetip shark Carcharhinus longimanus, a subtropical, ectothermic, oceanic pelagic shark that has experienced severe population declines, aggregates seasonally around Cat Island (CI) in The Bahamas. Large pelagic teleosts (e.g. billfish, tunas, and dolphinfish) are abundant in this region and oceanic whitetips are anecdotally reported to feed heavily on recreationally caught teleosts. However, it was unknown whether feeding habits at CI substantially differ from longer-term feeding habits. We used tag-recapture to assess site-fidelity of adult oceanic whitetips to CI and stable isotope analysis (SIA) of 2 different tissues (blood plasma and white muscle) to compare short-and long-term feeding patterns. The relatively high recapture rate (20.3%) confirmed that individual whitetips exhibit site-fidelity to CI. The aggregation consisted of adult individuals; females were more common, more than half were gravid, and no physical or behavioral evidence of mating or parturition was observed at CI. SIA-based Bayesian mixing model estimates of short-term (near CI) diets showed more large pelagic teleosts (72%) than in long-term diets (47%), showing a spatiotemporal difference in oceanic whitetip feeding habits. This suggests that availability of large teleost prey is a possible mechanism underpinning site-fidelity and aggregation of whitetips at CI. These results provide insight into the function of one of the last known aggregations of this once-abundant top predator.

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“…Diel variation appears common among cetaceans and pinnipeds (e.g., Aoki et al, 2007;Au et al, 2013;Baird et al, 2002Baird et al, , 2005Croxall et al, 1985;Le Boeuf et al, 1988) and is generally postulated to be related to the vertical migration of prey (Benoit-Bird and Au, 2003;Benoit-Bird et al, 2004). Dense aggregations of zooplankton and associated predators have been recorded around the PEIs at 300-400 m during the day and only shallower than 100 m at night (Perissinotto and Mcquaid, 1992).…”

Section: Diving Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movement and diving of killer whales ( Orcinus orca ) at a Southern Ocean archipelago

Reisinger

Keith

Andrews

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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Eleven satellite tags were deployed on 9 killer whales at the Prince Edwards Islands in the Southern Ocean. State-space switching models were used to generate position estimates from Argos location data, while two behavioural modes were estimated from the data. Individuals were tracked for 5.6-53.2 days, during which time they moved 416-4,470 km (mean 82.7 km day -1 ) but 69% of position estimates were within the 1000 m depth contour around the islands (<35 km from the tagging site). Killer whales showed restricted behaviour close to the islands, particularly inshore where they can effectively hunt seals and penguins, and at seamounts to the north of the islands.Generalized linear mixed effect models were used to explore the relationship between environmental variables and behavioural mode. The best model included depth, sea surface temperature, latitude, sea surface height anomaly and bottom slope, but killer whales did not clearly target features such as fronts and apparent mesoscale eddies. Killer whales showed restricted behaviour in shallow water, at high latitudes and low sea surface temperature -the conditions characterising the archipelago.Dive data from two individuals largely revealed shallow dives (7.5-50 m deep), but deeper dive bouts to around 368 m were also recorded. Dives were significantly deeper during the day and maximum dive depths were 767.5 and 499.5 m, respectively. This suggests that killer whales might also prey on vertically migrating cephalopods and perhaps Patagonian toothfish.Three individuals made rapid and directed long-distance movements northwards of the islands, the reasons for which are speculative.

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Diving and night-time behavior of long-finned pilot whales in the Ligurian Sea

Cited by 85 publications

References 7 publications

Stomach contents of long‐finned pilot whales,Globicephala melas, mass‐stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay in 2005 and 2008

Stomach contents of long‐finned pilot whales,Globicephala melas, mass‐stranded on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay in 2005 and 2008

Diet shift and site-fidelity of oceanic whitetip sharks Carcharhinus longimanus along the Great Bahama Bank

Movement and diving of killer whales ( Orcinus orca ) at a Southern Ocean archipelago

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