Lefort K J, Storrie L, Hussey N E, Ferguson S H
Fisheries and Oceans Canada Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Centre St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador Canada.
Department of Environment and Geography University of Manitoba Winnipeg Manitoba Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2025 Jan 30;15(2):e70921. doi: 10.1002/ece3.70921. eCollection 2025 Feb.
Why animals migrate is a fundamental question in biology. While the adaptive significance of some animal migrations is well understood (e.g., to find food, to pursue more-favorable habitats, to spawn, or to give birth), others remain unknown. The adaptive significance of whale migration, for example, is unresolved and multiple hypotheses have been proposed to explain it. One recently proposed hypothesis that challenges the long-standing "feeding-breeding" whale migration model is a "feeding-molting" model, where whales undertake latitudinal migrations to warmer waters to molt skin. In July 2019, we attached satellite-tracking tags to northern bottlenose whales () in the Canadian Arctic. One of these tagged whales completed a round-trip movement between the Arctic and the temperate western North Atlantic, traveling 7281 km in 67 days (and spanning 27° of latitude). The whale was tagged in sea-surface temperatures of ~4°C, but migrated south, reaching ~23°C surface waters, where it remained for 7 days before returning to the Arctic. The whale's occupancy of warm water was accompanied by a distinct shift in dive behavior, remaining near the ocean's surface. Four other tagged whales initiated similar long-distance movements. We conclude that feeding or breeding were unlikely reasons for this movement and that northern bottlenose whales migrate to warmer latitudes to molt skin.
动物为何迁徙是生物学中的一个基本问题。虽然某些动物迁徙的适应性意义已得到充分理解（例如，寻找食物、追寻更适宜的栖息地、产卵或分娩），但其他一些动物迁徙的适应性意义仍不明确。例如，鲸鱼迁徙的适应性意义尚无定论，人们已提出多种假说对其进行解释。最近提出的一个挑战长期存在的“觅食 - 繁殖”鲸鱼迁徙模式的假说是“觅食 - 蜕皮”模式，即鲸鱼进行纬度迁移至温暖水域蜕皮。2019年7月，我们在加拿大北极地区给北大西洋露脊鲸（）附着了卫星追踪标签。其中一头被标记的鲸鱼在北极和北温带西部大西洋之间完成了一次往返移动，在67天内游了7291千米（跨越27个纬度）。这头鲸鱼被标记时所在海域的海面温度约为4°C，但它向南迁徙，到达了海面温度约为23°C的水域，在那里停留了7天，然后返回北极。这头鲸鱼在温暖水域停留期间，其潜水行为发生了明显变化，它一直靠近海洋表面。其他4头被标记的鲸鱼也开始了类似的长距离移动。我们得出结论，这种移动不太可能是为了觅食或繁殖，北大西洋露脊鲸迁徙到温暖纬度是为了蜕皮。
