A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean
Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Indian Ocean (IO) are currently thought to represent 2 or 3 subspecies (B. m. intermedia, B. m. brevicauda, B. m. indica), and believed to be structured into 4 populations, each with a diagnostic song-type. Here we describe a previously unreported song-type t...
Published in: | Endangered Species Research |
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Inter-Research Science Center
2020
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73893 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/5fd2056e-5b98-4536-b81d-7819278b0a62/download https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 |
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ftunswworks:oai:unsworks.library.unsw.edu.au:1959.4/unsworks_73893 2024-05-19T07:37:59+00:00 A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean Cerchio, S Willson, A Leroy, EC Muirhead, C Harthi, SA Baldwin, R Cholewiak, D Collins, T Minton, G Rasoloarijao, T Rogers, TL Willson, MS 2020-12-17 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73893 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/5fd2056e-5b98-4536-b81d-7819278b0a62/download https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 unknown Inter-Research Science Center http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73893 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/5fd2056e-5b98-4536-b81d-7819278b0a62/download https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC-BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ free_to_read urn:ISSN:1863-5407 urn:ISSN:1613-4796 Endangered Species Research, 43, 495-515 14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 05 Environmental Sciences anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences journal article http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2020 ftunswworks https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 2024-04-24T00:41:24Z Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Indian Ocean (IO) are currently thought to represent 2 or 3 subspecies (B. m. intermedia, B. m. brevicauda, B. m. indica), and believed to be structured into 4 populations, each with a diagnostic song-type. Here we describe a previously unreported song-type that implies the probable existence of a population that has been undetected or conflated with another population. The novel song-type was recorded off Oman in the northern IO/Arabian Sea, off the western Chagos Archipelago in the equatorial central IO, and off Madagascar in the southwestern IO. As this is the only blue whale song that has been identified in the western Arabian Sea, we label it the ‘Northwest Indian Ocean’ song-type to distinguish it from other regional song-types. Spatiotemporal variation suggested a distribution west of 70̊ E, with potential affinity for the northern IO/Arabian Sea, and only minor presence in the southwestern IO. Timing of presence off Oman suggested that intensive illegal Soviet whaling that took 1294 blue whales in the 1960s likely targeted this population, as opposed to the more widely distributed ‘Sri Lanka’ acoustic population as previously assumed. Based upon geographic distribution and potential aseasonal reproduction found in the Soviet catch data, we suggest that if there is a northern IO subspecies (B. m. indica), it is likely this population. Moreover, the potentially restricted range, intensive historic whaling, and the fact that the song-type has been previously undetected, suggests a small population that is in critical need of status assessment and conservation action. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks Endangered Species Research 43 495 515 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales): UNSWorks |
op_collection_id |
ftunswworks |
language |
unknown |
topic |
14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 05 Environmental Sciences anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences |
spellingShingle |
14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 05 Environmental Sciences anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences Cerchio, S Willson, A Leroy, EC Muirhead, C Harthi, SA Baldwin, R Cholewiak, D Collins, T Minton, G Rasoloarijao, T Rogers, TL Willson, MS A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean |
topic_facet |
14 Life Below Water anzsrc-for: 05 Environmental Sciences anzsrc-for: 06 Biological Sciences |
description |
Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Indian Ocean (IO) are currently thought to represent 2 or 3 subspecies (B. m. intermedia, B. m. brevicauda, B. m. indica), and believed to be structured into 4 populations, each with a diagnostic song-type. Here we describe a previously unreported song-type that implies the probable existence of a population that has been undetected or conflated with another population. The novel song-type was recorded off Oman in the northern IO/Arabian Sea, off the western Chagos Archipelago in the equatorial central IO, and off Madagascar in the southwestern IO. As this is the only blue whale song that has been identified in the western Arabian Sea, we label it the ‘Northwest Indian Ocean’ song-type to distinguish it from other regional song-types. Spatiotemporal variation suggested a distribution west of 70̊ E, with potential affinity for the northern IO/Arabian Sea, and only minor presence in the southwestern IO. Timing of presence off Oman suggested that intensive illegal Soviet whaling that took 1294 blue whales in the 1960s likely targeted this population, as opposed to the more widely distributed ‘Sri Lanka’ acoustic population as previously assumed. Based upon geographic distribution and potential aseasonal reproduction found in the Soviet catch data, we suggest that if there is a northern IO subspecies (B. m. indica), it is likely this population. Moreover, the potentially restricted range, intensive historic whaling, and the fact that the song-type has been previously undetected, suggests a small population that is in critical need of status assessment and conservation action. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cerchio, S Willson, A Leroy, EC Muirhead, C Harthi, SA Baldwin, R Cholewiak, D Collins, T Minton, G Rasoloarijao, T Rogers, TL Willson, MS |
author_facet |
Cerchio, S Willson, A Leroy, EC Muirhead, C Harthi, SA Baldwin, R Cholewiak, D Collins, T Minton, G Rasoloarijao, T Rogers, TL Willson, MS |
author_sort |
Cerchio, S |
title |
A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean |
title_short |
A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean |
title_full |
A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean |
title_fullStr |
A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
A New Blue Whale Song-Type Described for the Arabian Sea and Western Indian Ocean |
title_sort |
new blue whale song-type described for the arabian sea and western indian ocean |
publisher |
Inter-Research Science Center |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73893 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/5fd2056e-5b98-4536-b81d-7819278b0a62/download https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 |
genre |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
op_source |
urn:ISSN:1863-5407 urn:ISSN:1613-4796 Endangered Species Research, 43, 495-515 |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_73893 https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/5fd2056e-5b98-4536-b81d-7819278b0a62/download https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 |
op_rights |
open access https://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 CC-BY-NC-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ free_to_read |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01096 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
43 |
container_start_page |
495 |
op_container_end_page |
515 |
_version_ |
1799477371725676544 |