Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T07:20:32.277Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Strandings of a neonate and a pregnant Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens (Sowerby, 1804)) in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2022

Seán A. O'Callaghan Open the ORCID record for Seán A. O'Callaghan [Opens in a new window] ,
Louise Overy ,
Lucy Hunt ,
Damian Foxall ,
Maurice Collins  and
Mick O'Connell
Seán A. O'Callaghan*
Affiliation:
Atlantic Technological University, Dublin Road, Galway City, Co. Galway, Ireland Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland
Louise Overy
Affiliation:
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, Kilrush, Co. Clare, Ireland Munster Technological University, Clash West, Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Lucy Hunt
Affiliation:
Sea Synergy Marine Awareness, Research & Activity Centre, Waterville, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Damian Foxall
Affiliation:
Sea Synergy Marine Awareness, Research & Activity Centre, Waterville, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Maurice Collins
Affiliation:
O'Leary Collins & Associates, The Fairfield, Cahersiveen, Co. Kerry, Ireland
Mick O'Connell
Affiliation:
Atlantic Technological University, Dublin Road, Galway City, Co. Galway, Ireland
*
Author for correspondence: Seán A. O'Callaghan, E-mail: seanocallaghan212@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sowerby's beaked whale is a deep-diving cetacean species specialized to live in the deep waters of the North Atlantic, including offshore Irish waters. Sightings of Sowerby's beaked whales in this area are infrequent and a substantial increase in our knowledge of their presence comes from recent static acoustic monitoring (SAM) and passive acoustic monitoring (PAM). However, most information on this species has been derived from stranding records, which provide opportunistic insights into this elusive species' cryptic life history. Here we report on the live stranding of a 1200 mm long neonate and an adult 5 m female Sowerby's beaked whale in July 2015 and on the stranding of a 4.9 m pregnant female in September 2020 with a 495 mm long male foetus in the south-west of Ireland. These stranding events provide an important insight into the reproductive life history of this species and provide further evidence that Sowerby's beaked whales calve in offshore Irish waters.

Keywords

EmaciatedfoetusIrelandneonatepregnantSowerby's beaked whalestranding
Type
Marine Record
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 102 , Issue 5 , August 2022 , pp. 309 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, W (1867) On Ziphius sowerbiensis. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 10, 51–52.Google Scholar
Bachara, W, Cermeño, P and Norman, SA (2014) Mesoplodon bidens strandings- a short review. Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. SC65b/SM02.Google Scholar
Bachara, W, Laria, L and Lopez, A (2016) First stranding record of a Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) in Asturias, Spain. Unpublished report to Cetal Fauna. Report WB2016/2. 3 pp.Google Scholar
Barile, C, Berrow, S and O'Brien, J (2021) Oceanographic Drivers of Cuvier's (Ziphius cavirostris) and Sowerby's (Mesoplodon bidens) beaked whales acoustic occurrence along the Irish Shelf Edge. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 9, 1081.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernaldo de Quirós, Y, Fernandez, A, Baird, RW, Brownell, RL Jr, Aguilar de Soto, N, Allen, D, Arbelo, M, Arregui, M, Costidis, A, Fahlman, A, Frantzis, A, Gulland, FMD, Iñíguez, M, Johnson, M, Komnenou, A, Koopman, H, Pabst, DA, Roe, WD, Sierra, E, Tejedor, M and Schorr, G (2019) Advances in research on the impacts of anti-submarine sonar on beaked whales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286, 20182533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berrow, S, Meade, R, Marrinan, M, McKeogh, E and O'Brien, J (2018 a) First confirmed sighting of Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens (Sowerby, 1804)) with calves in the Northeast Atlantic. Marine Biodiversity Records 11, 20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berrow, SD, O'Brien, J, Meade, R, Delarue, J, Kowarski, K, Martin, B, Moloney, J, Wall, D, Gillespie, D, Leaper, R, Gordon, J, Lee, A and Porter, L (2018 b) Acoustic Surveys of Cetaceans in the Irish Atlantic Margin in 2015–2016: Occurrence, distribution and abundance. Report to the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin, Ireland, p. 348.Google Scholar
Bittau, L, Leone, M, Gannier, A, Gannier, A and Manconi, R (2018) Two live sightings of Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens) from the western Mediterranean (Tyrrhenian Sea). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2017, 1–7.Google Scholar
Breen, P, Pirotta, E, Allcock, L, Bennison, A, Boisseau, O, Bouch, P, Hearty, A, Jessop, M, Kavanagh, A, Taite, M and Rogan, E (2020) Insights into the habitat of deep diving odontocetes around a canyon system in the northeast Atlantic Ocean from a short multidisciplinary survey. Deep-Sea Research Part I 159, 1032236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brownlow, A, Davison, N and ten Doeschate, M (2015) Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme Annual Report 2014 1 January to 31 December 2014. Unpublished report to Marine Scotland, Scottish Government, 1–96.Google Scholar
Brownlow, A, Davison, N, ten Doeschate, M, Berrow, S, Dagleish, M, Deaville, R, van Geel, N, Hantke, G, Jepson, P, Onoufriou, A, Risch, D, Rocchi, M and Dale, A (2019) Deep trouble: Investigation into an unprecedented number of beaked whale strandings, eastern Atlantic, July-October 2018. World Marine Mammal Conference, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 9–12 December 2019.Google Scholar
Bruton, T, Cotton, D and Enright, M (1989) Gulf Stream Beaked Whale Mesoplodon europaeus (Gervais). Irish Naturalists' Journal 23, 156.Google Scholar
Carlström, J, Denkinger, J, Feddersen, P and Øien, I (1997) Record of a new northern range of Sowerby's beaked whale (Mesoplodon bidens). Polar Biology 17, 459–461.Google Scholar
Clarke, E, Feyrer, LJ, Moors-Murphy, H and Stanistreet, J (2019) Click characteristics of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus) and Sowerby's beaked whales (Mesoplodon bidens) off eastern Canada. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 146, 307–315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davison, NJ, Brownlow, A, McGovern, B, Dagleish, MP, Perrett, LL, Dale, E-J, Koylass, M and Foster, G (2015) First report of Brucella ceti-associated meningoencephalitis in a long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 116, 237–241.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolman, SJ, Berrow, SD, Brownlow, A, Deaville, R, Evans, PGH, Fernandez, A, Gordon, JCD, Haelters, J, Ijsseldijk, LL, Miller, P, Morell, M, Plön, S, Renell, J, Simmonds, M, Stockin, K, Virgili, A and Wickson, F (2021) Overcoming Challenges to Protect Beaked Whales in the Northeast Atlantic ASCOBANS Intersessional Working Group Report, September 2021, p. 52.Google Scholar
Hernandez-Milian, G and Rogan, E (2011) Beaked whales in Irish waters: what can long-term stranding records tell us? 19th Biennial Conference, Society of Marine Mammals, Tampa, Florida, USA, 27 November–2 December 2011.Google Scholar
Hill, HM, Dietrich, S and Cappiello, B (2017) Learning to play: a review and theoretical investigation of the developmental mechanisms and functions of cetacean play. Learning & Behavior 45, 335–354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoare, P (2020) Beached whale increase may be due to military sonar exercises, say experts. www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/24/beached-whale-increase-may-be-due-to-military-sonar-exercises-say-experts (Accessed 5 March 2021).Google Scholar
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (2022) Stranding scheme database. Last accessed 28 April 2021.Google Scholar
Kowarski, K, Delarue, J, Martin, B, O'Brien, J, Meade, R, Cadhla O, Ó and Berrow, S (2018) Signals from the deep: spatial and temporal acoustic occurrence of beaked whales off western Ireland. PLoS ONE 13, e0199431.Google ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, CD, Perrin, WF, Pitman, R, Barlow, J, Balance, L, D'Amico, A, Gerrodette, T, Joyce, G, Mullin, KD, Palka, DL and Waring, GT (2006) Known and inferred distributions of beaked whale species (Cetacea: Ziphiidae). Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 7, 271–286.Google Scholar
MacLeod, CD, Pierce, GJ and Santos, MB (2004) Geographic and temporal variations in the strandings of beaked whales (Ziphiidae) on the coasts of the UK and the Republic of Ireland from 1800–2002. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 6, 79–86.Google Scholar
Martín, V, Tejedor, M, Pérez-Gil, M, Dalebout, ML, Arbelo, M and Fernandez, A (2011) A Sowerby's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bidens) stranded in the canary island: the most southern record in the Eastern Atlantic. Aquatic Mammals 37, 512–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mead, JG (1984) Survey of reproductive data for the beaked whales (Ziphiidae). Reports – International Whaling Commission 6, 91–96.Google Scholar
National Biodiversity Data Centre (2021) Sowerby's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bidens). https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Species/134660 (Accessed 20 February 2021).Google Scholar
Ó Cadhla, O, Mackey, M, Aguilar de Soto, N, Rogan, E and Connolly, N (2004) Cetaceans and Seabirds of Ireland's Atlantic Margin. Volume II – Cetacean distribution & abundance. Report on research carried out under the Irish Infrastructure Programme (PIP): Rockall Studies Group (RSG) projects 98/6 and 00/13, Porcupine Studies Group project P00/15 and Offshore Support Group (OSG) project 99/38. p. 82.Google Scholar
O'Connell, M and Berrow, S (2013) Final report of the cetacean stranding scheme 2011–2013. Report to the National Parks and Wildlife Service. p. 27.Google Scholar
O'Connell, M and Berrow, S (2018) Records from the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group for 2015. Irish Naturalists' Journal 36, 68–74.Google Scholar
ORCA (2016) The state of European cetaceans 2006–2015. Report to ORCA. p. 68.Google Scholar
Pereira, JN, Neves, VC, Prieto, R, Silva, MA, Cascão, I, Oliveira, C, Cuz, MJ, Medeiros, JV, Barreiros, JP, Porteiro, FM and Clarke, D (2011) Diet of mid-Atlantic Sowerby's beaked whales Mesoplodon bidens. Deep-Sea Research Part I 58, 1084–1090.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pitman, RL and Brownell, RL Jr (2020) Mesoplodon bidens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T13241A50363686.en. Accessed 20 Feb 2020: e.T13241A50363686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pugliares, KR, Bogomolni, A, Toughey, KM, Herzig, SM, Harry, CT and Moore, MJ (2007) Marine Mammal Necropsy: An introductory guide for stranding responders and field biologists. Woods Hole Oceanographical Institution technical report, WHOI-2007-06. p. 133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reidenberg, JS and Laitman, JT (2009) Cetacean prenatal development. In Perrin, WF, Würsig, B and Thewissen, JGM (eds). Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, 2nd Edn. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 220–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiner, F (1986) First record of Sowerby's beaked whale from the Azores. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute 37, 103–107.Google Scholar
Richardson, N, Jessopp, M, Hunt, W and Kavanagh, AS (2018) First at-sea sighting of Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris Blainville) in waters over the Irish extended continental shelf. Irish Naturalists' Journal 36, 74–75.Google Scholar
Rogan, E, Breen, P, Mackey, M, Cañadas, A, Scheidat, M, Geelhoed, S and Jessopp, M (2018) Aerial surveys of cetaceans and seabirds in Irish waters: Occurrence, distribution and abundance in 2015–2017. Report to the Department of Communications, Climate Action & Environment and National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin, Ireland. p. 297.Google Scholar
Rogan, E, Cañadas, A, Macleod, K, Santos, MB, Mikkelsen, B, Uriarte, A, Van Canneyt, O, Vázquez, JA and Hammond, PS (2017) Distribution, abundance and habitat use of deep diving cetaceans in the North-East Atlantic. Deep-Sea Research Part II 141, 8–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SMASS (2021) Scottish beaked whale stranding data. Last accessed 3 March 2021.Google Scholar
Smith, KJ, Trueman, CN, France, CAM, Sparks, JP, Brownlow, AC, Dähne, M, Davison, NJ, Guðmundsson, G, Khidas, K, Kitchener, AC, Langeveld, BM, Lesage, V, Meijer, HJM, Ososky, JJ, Sabin, RC, Timmons, ZL, Vikingsson, GA, Wenzel, FW and Peterson, MJ (2021) Stable isotope analysis of specimens of opportunity reveals ocean-scale site fidelity in an elusive whale species. Frontiers in Conservation Science 2, 653766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitz, J, Cherel, Y, Bertin, S, Kiszka, J, Dewez, A and Ridoux, V (2011) Prey preferences among the community of deep-diving odontocetes from the Bay of Biscay, Northeast Atlantic. Deep-Sea Research Part I 58, 273–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Visser, F, Oudejans, MG, Keller, OA, Madsen, PT and Johnson, M (2022) Sowerby's beaked whale biosonar and movement strategy indicate deep-sea foraging niche differentiation in mesoplodonts whales. The Journal of Experimental Biology 225, 243728.Google ScholarPubMed
Wall, D (2013) Marine Mammals and Megafauna in Irish Waters – Behaviour, Distribution and Habitat Use – WP1 Monitoring Spatial and Temporal Habitat Use and Abundance of Cetaceans. Marine Research Sub-Programme (NDP 2007-’13), PBA/ME/07/005(02). Marine Institute, Galway, Ireland.Google Scholar