THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOWHEAD WHALES, BALAENA MYSTICETUS , IN THE CHUKCHI SEA

A bstract Under a U.S.‐U.S.S.R. cooperative Marine Mammal Project, shipboard cruises were made in 1979, 1980 and 1982, primarily to determine whether there is a substock of western Arctic bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ) that summers in the western Chukchi Sea instead of migrating to the Beaufo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine Mammal Science
Main Authors: Miller, R. V., Rugh, D. J., Ohnson, J. H.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1986
Subjects:
Aquatic Science
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Arctic
Chukchi Sea
Balaena mysticetus
Beaufort Sea
Chukchi
Chukotka
Siberia
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1986.tb00041.x
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1748-7692.1986.tb00041.x
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1748-7692.1986.tb00041.x
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Summary:A bstract Under a U.S.‐U.S.S.R. cooperative Marine Mammal Project, shipboard cruises were made in 1979, 1980 and 1982, primarily to determine whether there is a substock of western Arctic bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ) that summers in the western Chukchi Sea instead of migrating to the Beaufort Sea. More than 100 bowheads were sighted along the north Chukotka coast of Siberia in October 1979, and more than 200 bowheads were sighted there in September 1980. None were seen anywhere in the Chukchi Sea in late July and August 1982. We conclude that the September and October sightings were of animals returning early from the Beaufort Sea and that, other than occurrences peripheral to the main migration, there are no large concentrations in the Chukchi in the summer and there is apparently no western Chukchi substock.

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