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

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Date
13/07/2016
Author
Bortolotto, Guilherme A.
Kolesnikovas, Cristiane Kiyomi Miyaji
Freire, Andrea Santarosa
Simões-Lopes, Paulo César
Keywords
Large whale
Migration
Peisos petrunkevitchi
Prey
Distribution
Western South Atlantic
GC Oceanography
QH301 Biology
DAS
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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.
Citation
Bortolotto , G A , Kolesnikovas , C K M , Freire , A S & Simões-Lopes , P C 2016 , ' Young humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae feeding in Santa Catarina coastal waters, Southern Brazil, and a ship strike report ' , Marine Biodiversity Records , vol. 9 , 29 , pp. 1-6 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s41200-016-0043-4
Publication
Marine Biodiversity Records
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41200-016-0043-4
Type
Journal article
Rights
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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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18641

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