Evidence of spatial structuring of eastern South Pacific humpback whale feeding grounds

Abstract

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 22:33-38 (2013) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00536 NOTE Evidence of spatial structuring of eastern South Pacific humpback whale feeding grounds J. Acevedo1,*, D. Haro2, L. Dalla Rosa3, A. Aguayo-Lobo4, R. Hucke-Gaete2,5, E. Secchi3, J. Plana6, L. A. Pastene7 1Centro de Estudios del Cuaternario de Fuego-Patagonia y Antártica (Fundación CEQUA), 21 de Mayo 1690, Casilla 727, Punta Arenas, Chile 2Centro Ballena Azul (CBA), c/o ICML, UACh, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile 3Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Río Grande, RS 96201-900, Brasil 4Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), Departamento Científico, Plaza Muñoz Gamero 1055, Punta Arenas, Chile 5Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile 6Ramón Menéndez Pidal 0294, Punta Arenas, Chile 7Institute of Cetacean Research, Toyomi 4-5, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0055, Japan *Email: jorge.acevedo@cequa.cl ABSTRACT: The eastern South Pacific humpback whale population winters primarily off Colombia and Ecuador, extending northward to the coasts of Panama and Costa Rica. It migrates south to the Fueguian Archipelago and Antarctic Peninsula waters for feeding during the austral summer. In recent years, however, humpback whales have also been observed feeding in the Corcovado Gulf, in the northern Chilean Patagonian channels, during the austral summer and fall. We examine photographically identified humpback whales in order to determine interchange or isolation of these aggregations. The apparent absence of movements of identified humpback whales among the 3 summering areas, and the differences in the proportion of white/black coloration on the fluke, suggest that each locality corresponds to a discrete feeding area for eastern South Pacific humpback whales. KEY WORDS: Humpback whale · Eastern South Pacific · Corcovado Gulf · Fueguian Archipelago · Southern Ocean · Feeding ground Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Acevedo J, Haro D, Dalla Rosa L, Aguayo-Lobo A and others (2013) Evidence of spatial structuring of eastern South Pacific humpback whale feeding grounds. Endang Species Res 22:33-38. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00536 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 22, No. 1. Online publication date: October 24, 2013 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2013 Inter-Research.