Rorqual whale (Balaenopteridae) surface lunge‐feeding behaviors: Standardized classification, repertoire diversity, and evolutionary analyses

• Published in: Marine Mammal Science
• Main Authors: Kot, Brian W, Sears, Richard, Zbinden, Dany, Borda, Elizabeth, Gordon, Malcolm S
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: eScholarship, University of California 2014
• Subjects: Behavioral and Social Science; Balaenopteridae; Blue whale; Evolution; Feeding behavior; Fin whale; Lunge-feeding; Minke whale; Rorqual whale; Surface feeding; Ecology; Evolutionary Biology; Zoology; Marine Biology & Hydrobiology; Rorqual; Balaenoptera acutorostrata; minke whale
• Online Access: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6728w695; https://escholarship.org/content/qt6728w695/qt6728w695.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12115

Rorqual whales (Family: Balaenopteridae) are the world's largest predators and sometimes feed near or at the sea surface on small schooling prey. Most rorquals capture prey using a behavioral process known as lunge-feeding that, when occurring at the surface, often exposes the mouth and head above the water. New technology has recently improved historical misconceptions about the natural variation in rorqual lunge-feeding behavior yet missing from the literature is a dedicated study of the identification, use, and evolution of these behaviors when used to capture prey at the surface. Here we present results from a long-term investigation of three rorqual whale species (minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata; fin whale, B. physalus; and blue whale, B. musculus) that helped us develop a standardized classification system of surface lunge-feeding (SLF) behaviors. We then tested for differences in frequency of these behaviors among the three species and across all rorqual species. Our results: (1) propose a unified classification system of six homologous SLF behaviors used by all living rorqual whale species; (2) demonstrate statistically significant differences in the frequency of each behavior by minke, fin, and blue whales; and (3) provide new information regarding the evolution of lunge-feeding behaviors among rorqual whales. © 2014 Society for Marine Mammalogy.