Marine Mammals near Barrow: Sea Floor Observatory

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Marine Mammals near BarrowSea Floor Observatory

• North Slope Borough
• Department of Wildlife Management
• Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission

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Cetacean Fossil History
Pakicetus
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Baleen short rostrum not greatly arched Have
dorsal fins Throat pleats or groves gulp
feeding Largest whales, relatively fast, very
powerful Out of phase seasonal migration to low
Latitudes Can be quite vocal Follow Burns
Rule? Blue gt Fin gt Sei gt Humpback gt Brydes gt
minke
Family Balaenopteridae e.g., Balaenaptera
musculus Blue whale 6 species
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Suborder Odontoceti (6 Families)
Example Family Delphinidae Orcinus orca
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Family Monodontidae

• 2 species beluga and narwhale
• Circumpolar Arctic distribution
• Narwhal dentition one pair upper incisors, tusk
  in male
• Highly vocal
• Social form large pods
• Supreme ice navigators?
• No boss on premaxilla
• Snout short

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Family Phocoenidae e.g., Phocoena phocoena 4
genera, 6 spp.
No distinct beak Teeth range in number from
60-120 Distributed through northern hemisphere
coastal waters of SA in southern
hemisphere Premaxilla with prominent boss bump
anterior to external nares Vaquita (P. sinus)
endangered (not a river dolphin
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Bearded Seal
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Ice-based Bowhead Whale Census (1978 to Present)
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plot
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Acoustic Studies
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Bowhead whale breaking through sea ice
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Breathing Hole in Refrozen Lead 1985
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BCBS MIGRATION
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• SUMMARY
• detect calls of endangered whales and marine
  mammals over unprecedented spatial and temporal
  scales
• population index/size of the BCBS bowhead whales
• migration timing
• quantification of anthropogenic noise (barges,
  ships, seismic, air craft, etc.), identify
  components of anthropogenic noise
• ambient noise levels vs reactions of marine
  mammals
• identification of vagrant marine mammals