Feeding grounds of the eastern South Pacific humpback whale population include the South Orkney Islands

This paper reports on two photo-identified humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that were sighted in different years in the proximity of the South Orkney Islands, at the boundary between the Scotia and Weddell seas (60°54.5'S-46°40.4'W and 60°42.6'S-45°33'W). One of the whale...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Polar research Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 17324 - 4
Main Authors:	Dalla Rosa, Luciano, Félix, Fernando, Stevick, PeterT, Secchi, Eduardo R., Allen, JudithM, Chater, Kim, Martin, Anthony R., Bassoi, Manuela
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Routledge 01-01-2012 Norwegian Polar Institute
Subjects:	breeding stocks Humpback whale migration photo-identification South Orkney Islands Southern Ocean
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This paper reports on two photo-identified humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that were sighted in different years in the proximity of the South Orkney Islands, at the boundary between the Scotia and Weddell seas (60°54.5'S-46°40.4'W and 60°42.6'S-45°33'W). One of the whales had been previously sighted off Ecuador, a breeding ground for the eastern South Pacific population. The other whale was subsequently resighted in Bransfield Strait, off the western Antarctic Peninsula, a well-documented feeding ground for the same population. These matches give support to a hypothesis that the area south of the South Orkney Islands is occupied by whales from the eastern South Pacific breeding stock. Consequently, we propose 40°W as a new longitudinal boundary between the feeding grounds associated with the eastern South Pacific and western South Atlantic breeding stocks.
ISSN:	1751-8369 0800-0395 1751-8369
DOI:	10.3402/polar.v31i0.17324