Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T23:16:47.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) digest wax esters?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

Erling S. Nordøy
Erling S. Nordøy
Affiliation:
Department of Arctic Biology and Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Mammals are known to utilize wax esters with an efficiency of less than 50%. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether or not minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), which at times may eat considerable amounts of wax-ester-rich krill, represent an exception to this general pattern. Samples of fresh undigested forestomach, as well as colon, contents were obtained from minke whales (n 5) that had been feeding on krill (Thysanoessa inermis) for some time. The samples were analysed for dry mass, energy density, lipid content and the major lipid classes, including wax esters. The concentrations of wax esters were compared with previous estimates of dry-matter disappearance of the same type of prey using an in vitro technique, to calculate the dry-matter digestibility of wax esters (DMDwax). Wax esters contributed 21% of the energy and 47% of total lipids in the krill diet. The energy density of gut contents decreased by 50% after their passage from forestomach to the end of the colon. The DMDwax was 94·1 (SD 2·8)% (n 5). This high DMDwax and the occurrence of fatty alcohols, one of the products of wax-ester hydrolysis, in faeces show that minke whales are very efficient digesters of wax esters and absorb most of the energy-rich products of this process.

Keywords

Minke whaleKrillWax estersDigestive efficiency
Type
Wax ester digestion by minke whales
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , Volume 74 , Issue 5 , November 1995 , pp. 717 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 1995

References

Bauermeister, A. & Sargent, J. R. (1979). Wax esters: major metabolites in the marine environment. Trends in Biochemical Sciences 4, 209–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benson, A. A. & Lee, R. F. (1975). The role of wax in oceanic food chains. Scientific American 232, 77–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falk-Petersen, S., Gatten, R. R., Sargent, J. R. & Hopkins, C. C. E. (1981). Ecological investigations on the zooplankton in Balsfjorden, northern Norway: seasonal changes in the lipid class composition of Meganyctiphanes norvegica (M. Sars), Thysanoessa raschii (M. Sars), and T. inermis (Krøyer). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 54, 209–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fewster, M. E., Burns, B. J. & Mead, J. F. (1969). Quantitative densitometric thin-layer chromatography of lipids using copper acetate reagent. Journal of Chromatography 43, 120–126.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hansen, I. A. & Mead, J. F. (1965). The fate of dietary wax esters in the rat. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 120, 527–532.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Helm, R. C. (1983). Intestinal length of three California pinniped species. Journal of Zoology 199, 297–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, S. & Place, A. R. (1990). Gastrointestinal transit and lipid assimilation efficiencies in three species of sub-Antarctit seabird. Journal of Experimental Zoology 255, 141–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jonsgård, Å;. (1982). The food of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in northern North Atlantic waters. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 32, 259–262.Google Scholar
Kleiber, M. (1975). The Fire of Life, 2nd ed. New York: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Co. Inc.Google Scholar
Mårtensson, P.-E., Nordøy, E. S. & Blix, A. S. (1994). Digestibility of krill (Euphausia superba) and Thysanoessa sp. in minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophagus). British Journal of Nutrition 72, 713–716.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nordøy, E. S. & Blix, A. S. (1992). Diet of minke whales in the Northeastern Atlantic. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 42, 393–398.Google Scholar
Nordøy, E. S., Sørmo, W. & Blix, A. S. (1993). In vitro digestibility of different prey species in minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). British Journal of Nutrition 70, 485–489.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohsumi, S. (1979). Feeding habits of the minke whale in the Antarctic. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 29, 473–476.Google Scholar
Olsen, M. A., Aagnes, T. H. & Mathiesen, S. D. (1994a). Digestion of herring by indigenous bacteria in the minke whale forestomach. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 60, 4445–4455.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olsen, M. A., Nordøy, E. S., Blix, A. S. & Mathiesen, S. D. (1994b). Functional anatomy of the gastrointestinal system of the Northeastern Atlantic minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata). Journal of Zoology 233, 55–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patton, J. S. & Benson, A. A. (1975). A comparative study of wax ester digestion in fish. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 52B, 111–116.Google Scholar
Place, A. R. (1992a). Bile is essential for lipid assimilation in Leach's storm petrel, Oceanodroma leucorhoa. American Journal of Physiology 263, R389–R399.Google ScholarPubMed
Place, A. R. (1992b). Comparative aspects of lipid digestion and absorption: physiological correlates of wax ester digestion. American Journal of Physiology 263, R464–R471.Google ScholarPubMed
Sargent, J. R., Gatten, R. R., Corner, E. D. S. & Kilvington, C. C. (1977). On the nutrition and metabolism of zooplankton. XL. Lipids in Calanus helgolandicus grazing Biddulphia sinensis. Journal of the Marine Biological Association (UK) 57, 525–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sargent, J. R., McIntosh, R., Bauermeister, A. & Blaxter, J. H. S. (1979). Assimilation of the wax esters of marine zooplankton by herring (Clupea harengus) and rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Marine Biology 51, 203–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verbiscar, A. J., Banigan, T. F., Weber, C. W., Reid, B. L., Trei, J. E., Nelson, E. A., Faffouf, R. F. & Kosevsky, D. (1980). Detoxification of jojoba meal. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 28, 571–578.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed