Mass stranding and unusual sightings of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus) in Skjálfandi Bay, Iceland

• Published in: Marine Mammal Science
• Main Authors: Grove, T., Senglat, C., Petitguyot, Marie, Kosiba, D., Rasmussen, M. H.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley & Sons 2020
• Subjects: Hooker; Macleod; Skjálfandi; hyperoodon ampullatus; Iceland; North Atlantic; Subarctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/216992; https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12689

9 pages, 3 figures.-- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited Inhabiting temperate and subarctic regions of the North Atlantic (Wimmer & Whitehead, 2004), northern bottlenose whales (NBWs; Hyperoodon ampullatus [Forster, 1770]) are typically found in open‐ocean habitats greater than 500 m depth (Hooker, Whitehead, Gowans, & Baird, 2002; Wimmer & Whitehead, 2004). This offshore distribution is typical of all beaked whales (Cetacea: Ziphiidae) and, in addition to extreme, deep diving (Hooker & Baird, 1999), often prevents effective study of their behavior and ecology (Macleod et al., 2006; Macleod, Pierce, & Santos, 2004). This is reflected in NBWs, and more than 90% of beaked whale species (Parsons, 2016), listed as “Data Deficient” by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Taylor et al., 2008). Moreover, NBWs are likely sensitive to anthropogenic disturbance, including high‐frequency‐noise pollution and fishery interactions (Miller et al., 2015; Whitehead & Hooker, 2012). Owing to their elusive lifestyle and corresponding lack of species data, any baseline information on NBW occurrence and activity can improve our understanding of species ecology and facilitate conservation decisions Peer reviewed