Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:16:47.698Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sperm whale distribution and diving behaviour in relation to presence of jumbo squid in Guaymas Basin, Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2009

Juan-Pablo Gallo-Reynoso ,
Janitzio Égido-Villarreal  and
Elsa-María Coria-Galindo
Juan-Pablo Gallo-Reynoso*
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C. Unidad Guaymas. Carretera a Varadero Nacional, Km 6.6, Las Playitas, Guaymas, Sonora 85480, México
Janitzio Égido-Villarreal
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C. Unidad Guaymas. Carretera a Varadero Nacional, Km 6.6, Las Playitas, Guaymas, Sonora 85480, México
Elsa-María Coria-Galindo
Affiliation:
San Redro No. 13-B, Lomas de Cortés, Guaymas, Sonora, 85450, México
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Juan-Pablo Gallo-Reynoso, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C. Unidad Guaymas. Carretera a Varadero Nacional, Km 6.6, Las Playitas, Guaymas, Sonora 85480, México email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, distribution was compared to acoustic backscatter observations in the Gulf of California. Forty-three sperm whale groups, totalling 813 individuals, were encountered during 28 observation days. Sperm whales occurred over deep waters (mean depth = 659 m, range: 300–1800 m). A significant correlation was found between the whales' maximum depth of dive and depth of the acoustic scattering layer (N = 36, r2 = 0.944, P = 0.000). We observed sperm whales dive to the scattering layer and then surface with prey in their jaws: jumbo squid, Dosidicus gigas (10 events) and unidentified fish (one event). The average depth of sperm whale foraging dives to the scattering layer was 342 m, the average diving time was 23 minutes, and the average surface interval between foraging dives was 6 minutes. Sperm whales spent 75% of their time diving and 25% on the surface. Swimming speed at the surface was slower when whales reached scattering layers during a dive (2.4 km/h) compared to dives when no scattering layer was reached (8.9 km/h). Our results establish a direct link between sperm whale distribution and presence of its prey in the Gulf of California.

Keywords

acoustic backscatterPhyseter macrocephalusGulf of California
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e139
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Benoit-Bird, K.J., Gilly, W.F., Whitlow Au, W.L. and Mate, B. (2008) Controlled and in situ target strengths of the jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas and identification of potential acoustic scattering sources. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 123, 1318–1328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, R.W., Jaquet, N., Gendron, D., Markaida, U., Bazzino, G. and Gilly, W. (2007) Diving behavior of sperm whales in relation to behavior of a major prey species, the jumbo squid, in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Marine Ecology Progress Series 333, 291–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gendron, D. (2000) Family Physeteridae. In Alvarez-Castañeda, S.T. and Patton, J.L. (eds) Mamíferos del Noroeste de México. La Paz, Mexico: Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas del Noroeste, pp. 635–637.Google Scholar
Gilly, W.F., Markaida, U., Baxter, C.H., Block, B.A., Boustany, A., Zeideberg, L., Reisenbichler, K., Robison, B., Bazzino, G. and Salinas, C. (2006) Vertical and horizontal migrations by the jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas revealed by electronic tagging. Marine Ecology Progress Series 324, 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaquet, N. and Gendron, D. (2002) Distribution and relative abundance of sperm whales in relation to key environmental features, squid landings and the distribution of other cetacean species in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Marine Biology 141, 591–601.Google Scholar
Jaquet, N., Gendron, D. and Coakes, A. (2003) Sperm whales in the Gulf of California: residency, movements, behavior and the possible influence of the variation in food supply. Marine Mammal Science 19, 545–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markaida, U. and Sosa-Nishizaki, O. (2001) Reproductive biology of jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas in the Gulf of California, 1995–1997. Fisheries Research 54, 63–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markaida, U. and Sosa-Nishizaki, O. (2003) Food and feeding habits of jumbo squid Dosidicus gigas (Cephalopoda: Ommastrephidae) from the Gulf of California, Mexico. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 83, 507–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markaida, U., Rosenthal, J.J.C. and Gilly, W.F. (2005) Tagging studies on the jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Fisheries Bulletin 103, 219–226.Google Scholar
Martínez-Aguilar, S., Morales-Bojórquez, E., Díaz-Uribe, J.G., Suárez-Higuera, M.C. and Hernández-Herrera, A. (2004) La pesquería del calamar gigante Dosidicus gigas en el Golfo de California. Recomendaciones de investigación y tácticas de regulación. CONAPESCA, Instituto Nacional de Acuacultura y Pesca, SAGARPA, 77 pp.Google Scholar
Nøttestad, L. and Similä, T. (2001) Killer whales attacking schooling fish: why force herring from deep water to the surface? Marine Mammal Science 17, 343–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watwood, S.L., Miller, P.J.O., Johnson, M., Madsen, P.T. and Tyack, P.L. (2006) Deep-diving foraging behaviour of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Journal of Animal Ecology 75, 814–825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehead, H. (1996) Variation in the feeding success of sperm whales: temporal scale, spatial scale and relationship to migrations. Journal of Animal Ecology 65, 429–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar