Whales and cephalopods in a deep‐sea arms race

• Published in: Limnology and Oceanography Letters
• Main Authors: Hoving, H.-J., Visser, F
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: toothed whale; toothed whales
• Online Access: https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/49/408249.pdf

Millions of predator–prey interactions between deep-diving toothed whales and cephalopods occur daily in the dark deep sea. While predatory whales developed traits to detect and hunt their prey, cephalopods had to expand their anti-predatory strategies specialized for visual predators, to counteract acoustic predators. Since toothed whale-cephalopod interactions have never been directly observed in the deep sea, it remains unknown what selective pressures and traits evolved from this arms race. Combining current knowledge, we formalize four hypotheses and associated research approaches that will guide future investigation on oceanic predator–prey systems. We identify whale echolocation as an unprecedented armament to hunt distant prey and propose that deep-sea squids avoid acoustic predators by (1) reducing their acoustic cross-section through body shape and posture, (2) deep-sea migration, and (3) not schooling. Toothed whale predation emerges as a potential driver of the cephalopod live-fast-die-young strategy—which may now leave cephalopods at competitive advantage under global change.