omsi science pub - gray whales
TRANSCRIPT
Gray Whales
Adults 40-45 feet long; 40 tons
Calves 15 feet long
SpyhopDrawing by Morris Grover
Gray Whale Blows
Blow released at 200mphHeart-shaped Blow
Blow Holes
2 blow holes
1 blow hole
Baleen Whale
Toothed Whale
Whale Lice
200,000 on their body
Barnacles
Barnacles (200-400lbs) and Barnacle Scar
Feeding
Depress tongue Lift Tongue
Blonde Baleen
Rostrum and Baleen
Baleen and Tongue
Gray Whale Food Items
Mysids Krill
Amphipods
Opportunistic Feeders
Feeding
Skimming
Bottom Feeding-Left Tail Fluke
Dorsal Fins vs. Dorsal Humps
Humpback Dorsal Fins Gray Whale Dorsal Humps
Identify Individuals by Dorsal Hump and
Sometimes Tail Fluke
Behaviors
Breach Kelping
Spyhop
Friendly WhalesFound in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Mexico
What are you looking at?
Ecological Interrelationships
Between Resident Gray Whales and Mysid Shrimp
What is a summer resident gray whale?
• A gray whale that returns in succeeding years.
•A gray whale that spends at least 48 hours in a specific
locality and exhibits feeding behavior.
Why do resident gray whales come to Oregon in the summer?
•Resident grays come for food, primarily mysid shrimp but also porcelain crab larvae (end of May or beginning of June), anchovy and other small prey items.
•The round trip from Oregon to the lagoons of Baja California is less than half the distance (5,000 miles round trip vs 12,000 miles to Alaska). They save energy!
•Out of the 18,000 Eastern Pacific Grays, about 250 resident grays remain from N. California to S. B.C. and don’t go to Alaska.
Porcelain Crab Larvae
Mysid Shrimp
Amphipod
Feeding Behaviors of Gray Whales
Skim Feeding on Crab Larvae
Mysid Feeding-notice left fluke is in the air so the whale is on its right side above bottom.
Each feeding behavior is unique for the type of prey the gray whale is targeting.
Feeding on mysids in a Bullwhip Kelp bed-looks like
a shark fin.
Mysid Swarms Seen on Fish Finders
(Red Band above the Black Bottom) Swarm 8 foot thick and continuous
Sharking- indicative of mysid feeding seen in areas with thick echogram traces of mysids and shallow waters 20-35 feet deep
How do We Know What They Eat?
1. Visual Observation of Feeding-Jean Michel Cousteau and his dive team tried to film this behavior in 2004-No Success (PBS film on research aired in July of 2006 called “Gray Whale Obstacle Course” by Ocean Futures Society).
2. Dissect open a dead whale-rare to encounter a freshly dead whale in sampling locality.
3. Collect fecal material-Being at the right place at the right time! This is my method!
Whale Fecal MaterialA dream come true!
What is in Whale Fecal Material?What is in Whale Fecal
Material?
Mysid with Telson
Statocyst Neomysis telson to
Left
Holmesimysis to right
What are Mysid Shrimp and How are they Different from
Krill?•Mysids are crustaceans like crabs and ghost shrimp but they look most similar to krill
Mysid
Krill
Brown or transparent, slim, stalked eyes and
found in near shore habitats
Krill are orange, stocky, eyes not on stalks and found in offshore habitats
Why are Mysids so Important?
•They are important as a food sourcefor salmon, rockfish, birds and gray
whales
•They are used in toxicity studies
Females brooding young have a higher
lipid value
What have I learned about mysid shrimp?
1.How to identify the 2 different species
2.How to sex them
3.How to sample population dynamics information about
them
4.How to determine swarm area localities
5.How to determine available biomass for the whales
6. Understanding their life history
Mysid Sexes
How do you sample population dynamics information of
mysids?
Put down plankton
net
Put down underwater
camera
Determine density with acrylic cube
Use of an acoustic sensor
Determining Density and Nearest Neighbor Distances
(NND)
Mysids NND can be from ½ body length
to 2 body lengths
Acrylic Cube
Determining Mysid
Thickness with a Fish Finder
What Do We Know About the Life History of
Mysids?
Female Holmesimysis with brood pouch of 32 eggs-Stage 1Mysids
undergo 3 stages while in the brood
pouch. To the right is: Stage 1-the Egg Stage
Mysid Larval Stages, Stage 2 and Stage 3
Female with 19 Stage 2 larva or “Torpedo stage” Late Stage 2, eyes pigmented
Stage 3 Molted Larva have eyes on stalks -also called the “Cookie Monster Stage”
Problems Facing Gray WhalesNatural Problems
1. Changes in Prey Biomass ie. El Nino
2. Attacks by Orcas ie. 1/3 Calves killed each year
Man-made Problems1. Boat Hits
2. Entanglement in Fishing Gear
3. Shot or Harpooned
4. Noise Levels ie. Shell Offshore Inc., 190dB problem
5. Toxins ie. Stinky Whales
What Happens to Gray Whales in Years with Poor Mysid Biomass?
2005 was a poor year for mysids and
2006 was an excellent year for mysids
2006
2005
Model Comparing Years of Continual Upwelling and
Sporadic Upwelling
2005 and 2010 - weak winds
2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - strong winds
Changes in Prey Biomass
Problems with 2005 and 2010 Gray Whales
•Reduced NW winds resulting in lack of food
•Whales not staying in area, move through just to check out what food is available.
•Whales that are around are skinny with scapula showing through the skin and a depression behind blow hole.
•Breath not stinky.
Body Condition varies with changes in Biomass
Depression in Profile
Straight Profile
Good Body Condition seen in 2006
Poor Body Condition seen in 2005
They can become undernourished due to lack of food supplies
Whales are sensitive to changes in their environment as seen by the
scapula protruding
Orca Attacks
Transient Orcas kill seals, sea lions and
whales
Tooth rakes on tail fluke or
neck
Orcas Attack Star
Star’s fluke in 1999 Star’s fluke in 2006
Evidence of an orca attack with tooth rakes on ventral and dorsal flukes
Orcas Attack mom Matrix
Slasher and calf Nifer
Boat Propeller Cuts on Residents
Cutter
Rambolina
Zebra Stripe
rdh
Zebra Stripe-left dorsal hump
Zebra Stripe-rdh
Football
ScarbackOur most famous resident got hit
by a harpoon
Hit by exploding harpoon between 1985-1987
Whale lice
Scarback’s Tail Flukes
changing with age-
she’s turning
gray
New Discovery
Entanglement in Crab Pot Lines
Humpback entangled in crab pot line
They can get lesions over their body
due to toxins in the water
or a depressed immune system
Gray Whales with Toxins
Identification of Individual Gray Whales by Dorsal Hump Region
Eagle Eye was born in 1994 to Snake Eyes and is a
male
Rare Flukeage Poopage
Eagle Eye
White Whales and Dark Whales
Chunky
Ghost
8-Ball
Spike named for
spikey dorsal
hump and knuckles
Ridgeback named for long ridge-like dorsal
hump
Vinnie-A young whale named for the V-shaped dorsal hump and nn on
neck
Morisa named for
Morse Code-Dot and Dash
Milky Way -Scarback’s 2004 calf that returned
as a 5-year old
2002
LDH
RDH
Stretch named for stretch-mark like
horizontal lines and stretching/breaching
out of the water
2004
Patches named for barnacle patches on body
U-Fish
Notice the U and Fish on each side of the dorsal
hump
Dotsee Trio
Am I Dotsee or Trio
Valentine
Notice the white heart and smooth dorsal hump-been here since 2003
CometNotice the long white
comet tail in front of the dorsal hump, c on the knuckles and how she
blows underwater
Shamrock
Arrow
Notice the white arrow on the left
dorsal hump and he’s a
lefty
PointerNotice pointed
dorsal hump and killer whale tooth
rakes and bite marks
New Discovery-Gray Whale DD Bubble
Net Feeding
Dotty Meteor
Winky
How would you distinguish these
individual whales?
Oregon’s Resident Whales
Courting
Fluking In Synchrony
Courting Behavior, late summer, female on left
.
Olivia P. Dorsi-a very
promiscious young female
Oh No it’s two Pink Floyds-only 6 feet long, hot pink and prehensile
Curious Oregon Gray Whales
Resident gray whale Localities
Whale Cove
Cape Foulweather
Boiler Bay
Eagle Eye heading towards Depoe Bay
My Zodiac with my dog and first mate,
Kida
Close Encounters of the Whale Kind
Kida and the Whales
Good Bye From Ribbon
Good Bye From Snowflake
Good Bye From Stretch
Good Bye From Wishbone
20052005 20062006
Resident WhalesResident Whales
Observing HoursObserving Hours 228228 462462
Days ObservingDays Observing 3838 7777
Number of Resident WhalesNumber of Resident Whales 1515 3737
Percent of Time of Whales in Percent of Time of Whales in ResidencyResidency
20%20% 95%95%
Percent of Time in Mysid FeedingPercent of Time in Mysid Feeding 19%19% 90%90%
Percent of Whales in Poor ConditionPercent of Whales in Poor Condition 80%80% 0%0%
MysidsMysids
Mean Number of Eggs/Female in Mean Number of Eggs/Female in May (n=52)May (n=52)
2222(4.34)(4.34)
2525(4.32(4.32
Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in May (n=85)May (n=85)
1919(1.58)(1.58)
21 21 (1.29(1.29
Mean Number of Eggs/Female in Mean Number of Eggs/Female in August (n=67)August (n=67)
00 33 33 (1.59(1.59
Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in August (n=75)August (n=75)
00 20 20 (2.16(2.16