ARCTIC Bowhead Whale (Balaena mysticetus) Feeding near

• Main Authors: Geoffry M. Carroll, John C. George, Lloyd F. Lowry, Kenneth O. Coyle
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1987
• Subjects: Key words; Balaena mysricerus; Point Barrow; feeding; bowhead whale; behavior; copepod; euphausiid; respiration; Arctic; Balaena mysticetus; Beaufort Sea; Zooplankton; Copepods
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.553.5982; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic40-2-105.pdf

ABSTRACT. Examination of stomach contents and behavioral observations showed conclusively that bowhead whales were feeding in the Point Barrow area during the spring of 1985. All three bowheads harvested near the village of Barrow had over five litres of pelagic zooplankton (calanoid copepods and euphausiids) in their stomachs. Over 60 whales were observed during the period 26 May through 6 June diving repeatedly under the landfast ice and feeding in an area 11.2 km southwest of Point Barrow. Observers recorded times for dive, surfacing and respiration intervals for these whales. The recorded times were significantly different from those f bowhead whales migrating past Point Barrow in the spring and from bowheads, whose major activity was feeding, recorded in the Canadian Beaufort Sea during the summer and fall.