Curtin University, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Bentley, Western Australia, 6102, Australia.
Curtin University, Centre for Marine Science and Technology, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2019 Jun 20;9(1):8840. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-45321-w.
The fin whale is a globally endangered species and is listed as threatened in Australia, however no peer-reviewed studies are available to indicate the migratory movements of the species in Australian waters. This study uses passive acoustic monitoring as a tool to identify the migratory movements of fin whales in Australian waters. Sampling was conducted from eight locations around Australia between 2009 and 2017, providing a total of 37 annual migratory records. Taken together, our observations provide evidence of fin whale migration through Australian waters, with earliest arrival of the animals recorded on the Western Australian coast, at Cape Leeuwin in April. The whales travel through Cape Leeuwin, migrating northward along the Western Australian coast to the Perth Canyon (May to October), which likely acts as a way-station for feeding. Some whales continue migrating as far north as Dampier (19°S). On Australia's east coast, at Tuncurry, fin whale seasonal presence each year occurred later, from June to late September/October. A total of only 8,024 fin whale pulses were recorded on the east coast, compared to 177,328 pulses recorded at the Perth Canyon. We suggest these differences, as well as the spatial separation between coasts, provide preliminary evidence that the fin whales present on the east and west coasts constitute separate sub-populations.
长须鲸是一种全球濒危物种，在澳大利亚被列为受威胁物种，但目前尚无经过同行评审的研究表明该物种在澳大利亚水域的洄游运动。本研究使用被动声学监测作为一种工具来确定长须鲸在澳大利亚水域的洄游运动。2009 年至 2017 年期间，在澳大利亚的八个地点进行了采样，共记录了 37 次年度洄游。总的来说，我们的观察结果为长须鲸在澳大利亚水域洄游提供了证据，最早记录到的动物于 4 月在西澳大利亚海岸的李奥温角出现。这些鲸鱼穿过李奥温角，沿着西澳大利亚海岸向北迁徙到珀斯峡谷（5 月至 10 月），这里可能是它们觅食的中途停留点。一些鲸鱼继续向北迁徙到丹皮尔（19°S）。在澳大利亚东海岸的图那库里，长须鲸每年的季节性存在时间较晚，从 6 月到 9 月下旬/ 10 月。在东海岸总共只记录到了 8024 次长须鲸的脉冲，而在珀斯峡谷则记录到了 177328 次。我们认为这些差异，以及东海岸和西海岸之间的空间分离，初步表明东海岸和西海岸出现的长须鲸构成了两个独立的亚种群。
