Habitat and prey selection of common minke,sei, and Bryde’s whales in mesoscale during summer in the subarctic and transition regions of the western North Pacific |
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| Authors: | Hikaru Watanabe Makoto Okazaki Tsutomu Tamura Kenji Konishi Denzo Inagake Takeharu Bando Hiroshi Kiwada Tomio Miyashita |
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| Institution: | (1) National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, 2-12-4 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan;(2) National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, 2-12-4 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan;(3) The Institute of Cetacean Research, 4-5 Toyomi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0055, Japan |
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| Abstract: | This study represents the first quantitative analysis of the characteristics of the distribution areas and stomach contents
of common minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata, sei whale B. borealis, and Bryde’s whale B. edeni in relation to oceanographic and prey environments in mid summer in the western North Pacific. Common minke whales were distributed
within subarctic regions and the northernmost region of the transitional domain, coinciding with the main habitat of their
preferred prey, Pacific saury Cololabis saira. Sei whales were mainly found in the northernmost part of the transition zone and showed prey preference for Japanese anchovy
Engraulis japonica, which was significantly more abundant in the main distribution area of the whale than in its adjacent areas. “Hot spots”
of Bryde’s whales were found in several regions of the transition zone between the subarctic boundary and the Kuroshio front.
This whale species preferred Japanese anchovy as prey, for which the distribution density was significantly higher in the
main distribution area of the whale than in the adjacent areas. These results indicate that the summer distributions of Pacific
saury and Japanese anchovy greatly influence the distributions of these whale species, suggesting that the whales’ habitat
selection is closely related to their prey selection. |
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