Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) off the west coast of Greenland

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Zoology
• Main Authors: Perkins, Judith S., Bryant, Peter J., Nichols, George, Patten, Donald R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1982
• Subjects: Animal Science and Zoology; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Newfoundland; Greenland; Navidad; Megaptera novaeangliae; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z82-369; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z82-369

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.