Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan
Abstract We report the first study of sperm whale‐fall ecosystems, based on mass sinking of whale carcasses at shelf depths in the northwest Pacific. We conducted three observations over a 2‐year period on replicate sperm‐whale carcasses implanted at depths of 219–254 m off the southern part of Japa...
Published in: | Marine Ecology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2007
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1439-0485.2007.00150.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x |
id |
crwiley:10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x 2024-09-15T18:37:31+00:00 Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan Fujiwara, Yoshihiro Kawato, Masaru Yamamoto, Tomoko Yamanaka, Toshiro Sato‐Okoshi, Waka Noda, Chikayo Tsuchida, Shinji Komai, Tomoyuki Cubelio, Sherine Sonia Sasaki, Takenori Jacobsen, Karen Kubokawa, Kaoru Fujikura, Katsunori Maruyama, Tadashi Furushima, Yasuo Okoshi, Kenji Miyake, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Masayuki Nogi, Yuichi Yatabe, Akiko Okutani, Takashi 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1439-0485.2007.00150.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Marine Ecology volume 28, issue 1, page 219-232 ISSN 0173-9565 1439-0485 journal-article 2007 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x 2024-07-02T04:10:06Z Abstract We report the first study of sperm whale‐fall ecosystems, based on mass sinking of whale carcasses at shelf depths in the northwest Pacific. We conducted three observations over a 2‐year period on replicate sperm‐whale carcasses implanted at depths of 219–254 m off the southern part of Japan from July 2003 to August 2005. The study was made possible by a mass stranding of sperm whales in January 2002, and the subsequent sinking of 12 carcasses in the waters off Cape Nomamisaki. Dense aggregations of unique chemosynthesis‐based fauna had formed around the whale carcasses after 18 months (July 2003). The mytilid mussel Adipicola pacifica was the most abundant macrofaunal species and covered most of the exposed bone surfaces. The general composition of the fauna was similar to that of deep‐water reducing habitats, but none of the species appearing in this study has been found at hydrothermal vents, cold seeps or deep‐water whale falls. A new species of lancelet, which was the first record of the subphylum Cephalochordata from reducing environments, a new species of Osedax a rarely encountered benthic ctenophore, and a rare gastropod species were discovered at this sperm whale‐fall site. Benthic communities were similar across all the carcasses studied, although the body sizes of the whales were very different. The succession of epifaunal communities was relatively rapid and the sulphophilic stage was considerably shorter than that of other known whale falls. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sperm whale Wiley Online Library Marine Ecology 28 1 219 232 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract We report the first study of sperm whale‐fall ecosystems, based on mass sinking of whale carcasses at shelf depths in the northwest Pacific. We conducted three observations over a 2‐year period on replicate sperm‐whale carcasses implanted at depths of 219–254 m off the southern part of Japan from July 2003 to August 2005. The study was made possible by a mass stranding of sperm whales in January 2002, and the subsequent sinking of 12 carcasses in the waters off Cape Nomamisaki. Dense aggregations of unique chemosynthesis‐based fauna had formed around the whale carcasses after 18 months (July 2003). The mytilid mussel Adipicola pacifica was the most abundant macrofaunal species and covered most of the exposed bone surfaces. The general composition of the fauna was similar to that of deep‐water reducing habitats, but none of the species appearing in this study has been found at hydrothermal vents, cold seeps or deep‐water whale falls. A new species of lancelet, which was the first record of the subphylum Cephalochordata from reducing environments, a new species of Osedax a rarely encountered benthic ctenophore, and a rare gastropod species were discovered at this sperm whale‐fall site. Benthic communities were similar across all the carcasses studied, although the body sizes of the whales were very different. The succession of epifaunal communities was relatively rapid and the sulphophilic stage was considerably shorter than that of other known whale falls. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fujiwara, Yoshihiro Kawato, Masaru Yamamoto, Tomoko Yamanaka, Toshiro Sato‐Okoshi, Waka Noda, Chikayo Tsuchida, Shinji Komai, Tomoyuki Cubelio, Sherine Sonia Sasaki, Takenori Jacobsen, Karen Kubokawa, Kaoru Fujikura, Katsunori Maruyama, Tadashi Furushima, Yasuo Okoshi, Kenji Miyake, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Masayuki Nogi, Yuichi Yatabe, Akiko Okutani, Takashi |
spellingShingle |
Fujiwara, Yoshihiro Kawato, Masaru Yamamoto, Tomoko Yamanaka, Toshiro Sato‐Okoshi, Waka Noda, Chikayo Tsuchida, Shinji Komai, Tomoyuki Cubelio, Sherine Sonia Sasaki, Takenori Jacobsen, Karen Kubokawa, Kaoru Fujikura, Katsunori Maruyama, Tadashi Furushima, Yasuo Okoshi, Kenji Miyake, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Masayuki Nogi, Yuichi Yatabe, Akiko Okutani, Takashi Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan |
author_facet |
Fujiwara, Yoshihiro Kawato, Masaru Yamamoto, Tomoko Yamanaka, Toshiro Sato‐Okoshi, Waka Noda, Chikayo Tsuchida, Shinji Komai, Tomoyuki Cubelio, Sherine Sonia Sasaki, Takenori Jacobsen, Karen Kubokawa, Kaoru Fujikura, Katsunori Maruyama, Tadashi Furushima, Yasuo Okoshi, Kenji Miyake, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Masayuki Nogi, Yuichi Yatabe, Akiko Okutani, Takashi |
author_sort |
Fujiwara, Yoshihiro |
title |
Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan |
title_short |
Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan |
title_full |
Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan |
title_fullStr |
Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan |
title_full_unstemmed |
Three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in Japan |
title_sort |
three‐year investigations into sperm whale‐fall ecosystems in japan |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1439-0485.2007.00150.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x |
genre |
Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale |
op_source |
Marine Ecology volume 28, issue 1, page 219-232 ISSN 0173-9565 1439-0485 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2007.00150.x |
container_title |
Marine Ecology |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
219 |
op_container_end_page |
232 |
_version_ |
1810481897468329984 |