NDLI: Day and night-time diving behavior of fin whales in the Western Ligurian Sea

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Panigada, S. Pesante, G. Zanardelli, M. Oehen, S.
Copyright Year	2003
Description	Author affiliation: Tethys Res. Inst., Milan, Italy (Panigada, S.; Pesante, G.; Zanardelli, M.; Oehen, S.)
Abstract	Mediterranean fin whales concentrate in the Ligurian Sea during the summer to feed on large swarms of the euphausiid Meganyctiphanes norvegica, known as one of their principal prey in the Northern Hemisphere. The diving behavior of 15 whales was studied, within a long-term study on the habitat use of this species, between 1998-2002 by using suction-cup attached tags, equipped with velocity-time-depth-recorders. Here we report the results of three successful taggings, during which the tag remained on the whales for a minimum of 6 hours (mean time = 8h 9min), and during which the whales reached depths of at least 468 m (estimated maximum depth 565 m). The diving behavior performed by the 3 tagged individuals differed considerably. Two whales started to perform deep dives (>400 m) after 5 PM, in coincidence with the presumed upward migration of the deep scattering layer, while until 5 PM they remained close to the surface performing 45 dives shallower than 100 m (mean depth = 27.8 m, SD = 19.0). The third whale was tagged at 11:50 AM and till 6 PM performed a series of 19 deep dives (mean depth = 449.0 m, SD = 22.5). One of the deployed tags remained on the whale till 10 PM, and showed a steady decrease in diving depth, dropping from 400 m at 7:40 PM to less than 50 m at 9:50 PM. The data presented here suggest that Mediterranean fin whales are unlikely to dive deeper than 600 m. The different depths reached by the tagged whales at the same time of day in different days indicate that prey distribution throughout the water column changes from time to time. Moreover, the diving behavior performed by the second whale suggests that fin whales in the Ligurian Sea follow the deep scattering layer's diel upward migration.
Sponsorship	Dept. of the Navy Sci. and Technol. Coalition for Enhanced Marine Resources Orincon Ceros Harbour Offshore Inc
Starting Page	466
Ending Page	471
File Size	539202
Page Count	6
File Format	PDF
ISBN	0933957300
DOI	10.1109/OCEANS.2003.178624
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2003-09-22
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	MTS
Subject Keyword	Whales Scattering Sea surface Ocean temperature Feeds Tagging Environmental factors Biopsy Genetics Productivity
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in