Bryde’s Whale (Balaenoptera edeni) Vocalizations from Southeast Brazil

Abstract

The Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni) is a species commonly documented along the southeast coast of Brazil, but nothing is known about their vocalizations in this area. Underwater recordings were gathered in an opportunistic manner when the species was present along the coast of the Rio de Janeiro State. A total of 143 min of recordings was analyzed, and five different call types were found. The most abundant call type consisted of a series of discrete pulses that was detected during the observation of a mother-calf pair. Other types of calls were recorded from solitary whales, including a flat tone with harmonics, a downswept tone, and two types of calls with multiple components. All recorded calls were short ( 7 s), with frequency ranges below 1 kHz. The call composed of a series of discrete pulses is likely linked to calf-adult interactions given that this call was previously reported in the presence of calves in the Gulf of California. This is the first description of the Bryde’s whale vocal repertoire in the South Atlantic. The vocalizations described herein present generally identifiable characteristics of the species’ calls; however, some variations may be specific to this area.