Young humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae feeding in Santa Catarina coastal waters, Southern Brazil, and a ship strike report

Guilherme A.  Bortolotto; Cristiane Kiyomi Miyaji Kolesnikovas; Andrea Santarosa  Freire; Paulo César Simões-Lopes

doi:10.1186/s41200-016-0043-4

Young humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae feeding in Santa Catarina coastal waters, Southern Brazil, and a ship strike report

Guilherme A. Bortolotto, Cristiane Kiyomi Miyaji Kolesnikovas, Andrea Santarosa Freire, Paulo César Simões-Lopes

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are cosmopolitan and highly migratory animals that rarely feed in low latitude waters during their breeding seasons. The western South Atlantic humpback whale population breeds off the Brazilian coast, from Natal (4°S) to Cabo Frio (23°S) and migration to their feeding grounds is known to be undertaken through offshore waters.
Results Here we report on an unusual stranding of a young humpback whale that was feeding in the coastal waters of Santa Catarina state (27°S), in October 2014. Evidence of a ship strike and that the animal had fed in no more than a few hours before death are also presented. Additionally, it is the first time that Peisos petrunkevitchi, a sergestid shrimp species, is described as prey for large whales.
Conclusions Although more information is required before we can further discuss whether the area could provide an important source of food for young humpback whales, the present ship strike highlights a possibly important threat in case this ecological feature is confirmed in the future.

Original language	English
Article number	29
Pages (from-to)	1-6
Number of pages	6
Journal	Marine Biodiversity Records
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s41200-016-0043-4
Publication status	Published - 13 Jul 2016

Keywords

Large whale
Migration
Peisos petrunkevitchi
Prey
Distribution
Western South Atlantic

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Copyright © 2016 Bortolotto et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
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Cite this

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title = "Young humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae feeding in Santa Catarina coastal waters, Southern Brazil, and a ship strike report",

abstract = "Background Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are cosmopolitan and highly migratory animals that rarely feed in low latitude waters during their breeding seasons. The western South Atlantic humpback whale population breeds off the Brazilian coast, from Natal (4°S) to Cabo Frio (23°S) and migration to their feeding grounds is known to be undertaken through offshore waters.Results Here we report on an unusual stranding of a young humpback whale that was feeding in the coastal waters of Santa Catarina state (27°S), in October 2014. Evidence of a ship strike and that the animal had fed in no more than a few hours before death are also presented. Additionally, it is the first time that Peisos petrunkevitchi, a sergestid shrimp species, is described as prey for large whales.Conclusions Although more information is required before we can further discuss whether the area could provide an important source of food for young humpback whales, the present ship strike highlights a possibly important threat in case this ecological feature is confirmed in the future.",

keywords = "Large whale, Migration, Peisos petrunkevitchi, Prey, Distribution, Western South Atlantic",

author = "Bortolotto, {Guilherme A.} and Kolesnikovas, {Cristiane Kiyomi Miyaji} and Freire, {Andrea Santarosa} and Sim{\~o}es-Lopes, {Paulo C{\'e}sar}",

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doi = "10.1186/s41200-016-0043-4",

language = "English",

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journal = "Marine Biodiversity Records",

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AU - Bortolotto, Guilherme A.

AU - Kolesnikovas, Cristiane Kiyomi Miyaji

AU - Freire, Andrea Santarosa

AU - Simões-Lopes, Paulo César

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Y1 - 2016/7/13

N2 - Background Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are cosmopolitan and highly migratory animals that rarely feed in low latitude waters during their breeding seasons. The western South Atlantic humpback whale population breeds off the Brazilian coast, from Natal (4°S) to Cabo Frio (23°S) and migration to their feeding grounds is known to be undertaken through offshore waters.Results Here we report on an unusual stranding of a young humpback whale that was feeding in the coastal waters of Santa Catarina state (27°S), in October 2014. Evidence of a ship strike and that the animal had fed in no more than a few hours before death are also presented. Additionally, it is the first time that Peisos petrunkevitchi, a sergestid shrimp species, is described as prey for large whales.Conclusions Although more information is required before we can further discuss whether the area could provide an important source of food for young humpback whales, the present ship strike highlights a possibly important threat in case this ecological feature is confirmed in the future.

AB - Background Humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae are cosmopolitan and highly migratory animals that rarely feed in low latitude waters during their breeding seasons. The western South Atlantic humpback whale population breeds off the Brazilian coast, from Natal (4°S) to Cabo Frio (23°S) and migration to their feeding grounds is known to be undertaken through offshore waters.Results Here we report on an unusual stranding of a young humpback whale that was feeding in the coastal waters of Santa Catarina state (27°S), in October 2014. Evidence of a ship strike and that the animal had fed in no more than a few hours before death are also presented. Additionally, it is the first time that Peisos petrunkevitchi, a sergestid shrimp species, is described as prey for large whales.Conclusions Although more information is required before we can further discuss whether the area could provide an important source of food for young humpback whales, the present ship strike highlights a possibly important threat in case this ecological feature is confirmed in the future.

KW - Large whale

KW - Migration

KW - Peisos petrunkevitchi

KW - Prey

KW - Distribution

KW - Western South Atlantic

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DO - 10.1186/s41200-016-0043-4

M3 - Article

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JO - Marine Biodiversity Records

JF - Marine Biodiversity Records

M1 - 29

ER -

Young humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae feeding in Santa Catarina coastal waters, Southern Brazil, and a ship strike report

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Keywords

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