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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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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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Acknowledgments

Special thanks are given to Captains Y. Terada and S. Sawadaishi and crews of Shunyo Maru, Captain T. Ogawa and crews of Nisshin Maru, and late G. Fujiwara of National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries (NRIFSF) for their skillful assistance in collecting data. K. Sawada of National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering, H. Hatanaka of the Institute of Cetacean Research, T. Ichii of Japanese Fisheries Agency, K. Taki, and Y. Kanaji of NRIFSF gave valuable information and comments during the course of this study. This research was supported by a grant from Japanese Fisheries Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Institute of Far Seas Fisheries, 2-12-4 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan

    Hikaru Watanabe & Tomio Miyashita

  2. National Research Institute of Fisheries Science, 2-12-4 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-8648, Japan

    Makoto Okazaki & Denzo Inagake

  3. The Institute of Cetacean Research, 4-5 Toyomi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0055, Japan

    Tsutomu Tamura, Kenji Konishi, Takeharu Bando & Hiroshi Kiwada

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  1. Hikaru Watanabe
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  2. Makoto Okazaki
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  3. Tsutomu Tamura
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  4. Kenji Konishi
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Correspondence to Hikaru Watanabe.

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Watanabe, H., Okazaki, M., Tamura, T. et al. 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. Fish Sci 78, 557–567 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12562-012-0480-x

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