A note on recent sightings of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) along the east coast of Madagascar

Abstract

Southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) are distributed throughout the Southern Hemisphere, where they seasonally migrate betweenhigh latitude feeding grounds and low latitude breeding grounds. While there are detailed records of historical and recent whaling off thesouthern, southwestern and southeastern African coasts, historical catches in Madagascar’s waters are poorly documented. There have alsobeen no recent, documented sightings of southern right whales off the east coast of Madagascar. Here we report two sightings, one of asingle individual in Antongil Bay in northeastern Madagascar and the other of a mother and calf pair near Fort Dauphin on the southeasterncoast. DNA obtained from a biopsy sample of the single animal showed it was a male possessing one of the common South Atlantic rightwhale mitochondrial haplotypes. The available DNA data provide limited suggestive evidence that the individuals documented offMadagascar represent long-distance migrants from the well-documented South African population. However, the possibility that thesesouthern right whales are members of a small or remnant population from the historical whaling grounds of Delagoa Bay, Sofala Bay orthe Crozet Island feeding grounds cannot be excluded. Regardless of population assignment for these individuals, it appears that somesouthern right whales may be using different parts of Madagascar’s east coast during the wintering season