Distribution of Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii)
2024
Feij, Bram | Kühn, Susanne | Meijboom, André | van Franeker, Jan A | Bornemann, Horst | Kelly, Nat | Schaafsma, Fokje L
Arnoux's beaked whales (Berardius arnuxii) are generally considered to be uncommon to rare, and likely to prefer deep oceanic waters of the Southern Hemisphere. During many top-predator surveys in the Southern Ocean since 1988 we did not sight the species. However, in April 2022 we encountered three groups in the marginal sea-ice zone of the Weddell Sea. This study provides detailed descriptions of the sighted animals and their environment and report on unpublished sightings of this species from 1986 to 1998. A search of published information on the distribution of the species revealed 108 documented sightings with a total of 1,125 individuals. In combination these sources of information for the Southern Ocean, suggest a frequent occurrence in ice-covered waters, often close to the continental coast and edges of fast ice and ice-shelves. North of 60 S, in the temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, the species was also regularly sighted near continents, even far inshore, in fjords surrounded by land.
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