Blue whales off the Southern coast of Sri Lanka during the Southwest Monsoon Season

Observations of 37 individual blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) were recorded off the southern coast of Sri Lanka during the Southwest Monsoon Season (SWM). Sightings were made during a scientific geophysical survey campaign conducted in July and August 2017. Whilst blue whales are regularly recor...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:The journal of cetacean research and management Jg. 21; H. 1; S. 1 - 7
Hauptverfasser: Russell, Grace, Bridge, Marcus, Nimak-Wood, Maja
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Cambridge International Whaling Commission 10.09.2020
Schlagworte:
Aquatic mammals
Breeding
Cetacea
Continental slope
Geophysical surveys
Latitude
Marine mammals
Monsoons
Ocean circulation
Overwintering
Polls & surveys
Seasons
Surveying
Upwelling
Whales
Wind
Sri Lanka
ISSN:1561-0713, 2312-2706, 2312-2692
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Observations of 37 individual blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) were recorded off the southern coast of Sri Lanka during the Southwest Monsoon Season (SWM). Sightings were made during a scientific geophysical survey campaign conducted in July and August 2017. Whilst blue whales are regularly recorded on the continental slope of southern Sri Lanka during the Northeast Monsoon Season (NEM) (December - March) and during the two inter-monsoonal periods (March - April and September - October), limited data is available for the SWM (May - September) mostly due to unfavourable weather conditions and very little survey effort. In the northern hemisphere blue whales undertake seasonal migrations from higher latitude feeding grounds to lower latitude breeding and wintering areas. However it has been suggested that a population of blue whales in the Northern India Ocean (NIO) remains in lower latitudes year round taking advantage of the rich upwelling areas off Somalia, southwest Arabia and western Sri Lanka. Data from this study nevertheless support a theory that a certain number of individuals remain off the southern coast off Sri Lanka during the SWM, suggesting that the productivity in this region is sufficient to support their year-round presence. This study therefore fills a knowledge gap regarding the presence and movement of blue whales in the NIO highlighting the importance of data obtained from platforms of opportunity.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ISSN:1561-0713
2312-2706
2312-2692
DOI:10.47536/jcrm.v21i1.189