Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland
An assessment of humpback whales off west Greenland during July and August 1981 was made by fluke photoidentification and strip census methods, in order to determine whether these animals constitute a separate stock or an extended summer range of a stock already identified in the northwest Atlantic....
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1982
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z82-369 2023-12-17T10:30:48+01:00 Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland Perkins, Judith S. Bryant, Peter J. Nichols, George Patten, Donald R. 1982 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z82-369 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z82-369 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 60, issue 11, page 2921-2930 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 1982 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z82-369 2023-11-19T13:39:12Z An assessment of humpback whales off west Greenland during July and August 1981 was made by fluke photoidentification and strip census methods, in order to determine whether these animals constitute a separate stock or an extended summer range of a stock already identified in the northwest Atlantic. Of 25 individuals sighted, 13 flukes were photographed. None matched whales previously identified in northern feeding areas, but one matched a whale photographed on Silver Bank just north of Hispaniola in the Caribbean in February 1981. Thirty-seven humpbacks were photographed later along the Labrador–Newfoundland coasts. Six of these whales (16%) matched individuals previously identified in the northwest Atlantic. West Greenland humpbacks were not evenly spaced, but were concentrated over the edges of offshore banks. Distribution was unrelated to zooplankton densities, but was positively correlated with large flocks of greater shearwaters. These findings, together with two observations of lunge feeding, confirmed that the humpbacks were eating small fish, probably Ammodytes sp. Our results suggest the possibility of a discrete feeding stock of humpbacks, probably numbering less than 200 whales, off west Greenland which, like other feeding stocks in the northwest Atlantic, breed and calve on Silver and Navidad banks in winter. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Megaptera novaeangliae Newfoundland Northwest Atlantic Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Newfoundland Greenland Navidad ENVELOPE(-62.100,-62.100,-64.583,-64.583) Canadian Journal of Zoology 60 11 2921 2930 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Perkins, Judith S. Bryant, Peter J. Nichols, George Patten, Donald R. Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
An assessment of humpback whales off west Greenland during July and August 1981 was made by fluke photoidentification and strip census methods, in order to determine whether these animals constitute a separate stock or an extended summer range of a stock already identified in the northwest Atlantic. Of 25 individuals sighted, 13 flukes were photographed. None matched whales previously identified in northern feeding areas, but one matched a whale photographed on Silver Bank just north of Hispaniola in the Caribbean in February 1981. Thirty-seven humpbacks were photographed later along the Labrador–Newfoundland coasts. Six of these whales (16%) matched individuals previously identified in the northwest Atlantic. West Greenland humpbacks were not evenly spaced, but were concentrated over the edges of offshore banks. Distribution was unrelated to zooplankton densities, but was positively correlated with large flocks of greater shearwaters. These findings, together with two observations of lunge feeding, confirmed that the humpbacks were eating small fish, probably Ammodytes sp. Our results suggest the possibility of a discrete feeding stock of humpbacks, probably numbering less than 200 whales, off west Greenland which, like other feeding stocks in the northwest Atlantic, breed and calve on Silver and Navidad banks in winter. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Perkins, Judith S. Bryant, Peter J. Nichols, George Patten, Donald R. |
author_facet |
Perkins, Judith S. Bryant, Peter J. Nichols, George Patten, Donald R. |
author_sort |
Perkins, Judith S. |
title |
Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland |
title_short |
Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland |
title_full |
Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland |
title_sort |
humpback whales ( megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of greenland |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
1982 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z82-369 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z82-369 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-62.100,-62.100,-64.583,-64.583) |
geographic |
Newfoundland Greenland Navidad |
geographic_facet |
Newfoundland Greenland Navidad |
genre |
Greenland Megaptera novaeangliae Newfoundland Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Greenland Megaptera novaeangliae Newfoundland Northwest Atlantic |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 60, issue 11, page 2921-2930 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z82-369 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
60 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2921 |
op_container_end_page |
2930 |
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1785583876595253248 |