Stranding of a Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) in Southern Texas, with Comments on Stomach Contents

Fertl, Dagmar; Schiro, A. J.; Collier, Stephen J.; Worthy, Graham A. J.

doi:10.18785/goms.1502.05

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Other authors have described the stomach contents of Cuvier's beaked whales stranded in the Mediterranean (Podestà & Meotti, 1991;Carlini et al, 1992;Lefkaditou & Poulopoulos, 1998;Blanco & Raga, 2000), Alaska (Foster & Hare, 1990;Fiscus, 1997), California (Mitchell & Houck, 1967), Texas (Fertl et al, 1997), the Dutch Antilles (Debrot & Barros, 1994), New Zealand (Fordyce et al, 1979) and South Africa (Ross, 1984). In general the diet of this species is mainly constituted by mesopelagic or benthic deep-water cephalopods, consistent with the oceanic habitat of the whales (see Santos et al, 2001, for a review).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into the diet of beaked whales from the atypical mass stranding in the Canary Islands in September 2002

Santos

Martín²,

Arbelo

et al. 2007

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

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Stomach contents were analysed from three species of beaked whales which mass-stranded shortly after a naval exercise conducted in the Canary Islands in September 2002. Animals from such mass strandings often contain freshly ingested food in their stomachs and can provide a more reliable guide to feeding habits than other strandings. Food remains recovered from seven Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) consisted mainly of oceanic cephalopods, the most numerous being Taonius pavo, Histioteuthis sp., Mastigoteuthis schmidti and Octopoteuthis sicula. Many of the cephalopod species found in the diet appear to undertake daily vertical migrations, being found in shallower waters during the night and moving to deeper waters during the day. Single specimens of Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) and Gervais' beaked whale (Mesoplodon europaeus) had eaten both fish and cephalopod prey. The most numerous prey remains belonged to gadid fish and viperfish (Chauliodus sp.) respectively. These results are consistent with the limited published data on diet in these species, with Mesoplodon species having a relatively higher proportion of fish in the diet whereas Ziphius specialises on cephalopods.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into the diet of beaked whales from the atypical mass stranding in the Canary Islands in September 2002

Santos

Martín²,

Arbelo

et al. 2007

J. Mar. Biol. Ass.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In northern California, Mitchell & Houck (1967) found`more than one litre of squid beaks' in the stomach of a female stranded in the area, but did not identify the food remains. In southern Texas, part of the stomach contents of a female was analysed by Fertl et al (1997), who identi¢ed the species Loligo pealei (LeSueur, 1821) from a sample of three upper and one lower beak.…”

Section: Historical Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding ecology of Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris): a review with new information on the diet of this species

et al. 2001

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Published information on the diet of Cuvier's beaked whales Ziphius cavirostris (Odontoceti: Ziphiidae) is reviewed and new information on the stomach contents of three animals: two stranded in Galicia (north-west Spain) in February 1990 at A Lanzada, and in February 1995 at Portonovo; and the third stranded in February 1999 in North Uist (Scotland), is presented. The whale stranded in 1990 was a male; the other two were adult females. All animals were >5 m long. The limited published information on the diet of this species indicates that it feeds primarily on oceanic cephalopods although some authors also found remains of oceanic fish and crustaceans. Food remains from the three new samples consisted entirely of cephalopod beaks. The Scottish sample set is the largest recorded to date for this species. The prey identified consisted of oceanic cephalopods, mainly squid (Cephalopoda: Teuthoidea). The most frequently occurring species were the squid Teuthowenia megalops, Mastigoteuthis schmidti and Taoniuspavo (for the Galician whale stranded in 1990), Teuthowenia megalops and Histioteuthis reversa (for the second Galician whale) and T. megalops, Gonatus sp. and Taoniuspavo (for the Scottish whale). Other prey included the squid Histioteuthis bonnellii, Histioteuthis arcturi and Todarodes sagittatus as well as Vampiroteuthis infernalis (Cephalopoda: Vampyromorpha), Stauroteuthis syrtensis and Japetella diaphana (Cephalopoda: Octopoda). The squid eaten (estimated from the measurement of the lower beaks) included juvenile and mature individuals of the most important species (Teuthowenia megalops, Gonatus sp.). The range of species found in the diet of Z. cavirostris is greater than that reported for sperm whales and bottlenosed whales in the north-east Atlantic.

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“…Shallow divers feed nocturnally on vertically migrating mesopelagic cephalopods and myctophids (Robertson and Chivers, 1998), and some may also forage opportunistically on epipelagic prey. Deep divers routinely prey primarily on mesoand bathypelagic cephalopods (Fertl et al, 1997;Judkins et al, 2013;West et al, 2017). Due to their high caloric needs, which require elevated prey consumption (Benoit-Bird, 2004;Farmer et al, 2018), these top predators serve as sentinel species whose population declines or spatial shifts may reflect broader but less readily observable changes in deep-pelagic ecosystems.…”

Section: Shallow-and Deep-diving Oceanic Cetaceansmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Open-Ocean Gulf of Mexico After Deepwater Horizon: Synthesis of a Decade of Research

et al. 2022

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The scale of the Deepwater Horizon disaster was and is unprecedented: geographic extent, pollutant amount, countermeasure scope, and of most relevance to this Research Topic issue, range of ecotypes affected. These ecotypes include coastal/nearshore, continental shelf, deep benthic, and open-ocean domains, the last of which is the subject of this synthesis. The open-ocean ecotype comprises ~90% of the volume of the Gulf of Mexico. The exact percentage of this ecotype contaminated with toxins is unknown due to its three-dimensional nature and dynamics, but estimates suggest that the footprint encompassed most of its eastern half. Further, interactions between the water column and the deep benthos may be persistent, making this synthesis one of time (a decade) rather than event conclusion. Here we examine key elements of the open-ocean ecosystem, with emphasis on vulnerability and resilience. Of paramount importance relative to the Gulf nearshore and shelf ecotypes, pre-disaster baseline data were lacking for most of the fauna. In such cases, inferences were drawn from post-disaster assessments. Both phytoplankton and mesozooplankton vulnerabilities were quite high, but resilience appeared equally so. The phytoplankton situation was a bit more complex in that toxin-imposed reductions may have been offset by nutrient injection via high freshwater discharge in 2010. Intermediate trophic levels exhibited population-level depressions, ostensibly due to high vulnerability and low resilience. Apex predator impacts were variable. Certain large epipelagic fishes may have avoided the highest concentrations of hydrocarbons/dispersant, and thus larval abundances returned to pre-disaster levels of variability and abundance within a few years after a steep initial decline. Oceanic cetaceans, particularly shallow-diving stenellid dolphins, did not appear to avoid oiled waters and exhibited strong declines in the northern Gulf. Given that population declines of many open-ocean taxa appear to be ongoing a decade later, we conclude that this largest of Gulf ecosystem components, like its deep-benthic counterpart, is as fragile as it is voluminous. This is particularly concerning given the rapid, and likely irreversible, shift to deeper waters by the US and Mexican oil industries in concert with the higher likelihood of accidents with increasing platform depth.

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Stranding of a Cuvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) in Southern Texas, with Comments on Stomach Contents

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Insights into the diet of beaked whales from the atypical mass stranding in the Canary Islands in September 2002

Insights into the diet of beaked whales from the atypical mass stranding in the Canary Islands in September 2002

Feeding ecology of Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris): a review with new information on the diet of this species

The Open-Ocean Gulf of Mexico After Deepwater Horizon: Synthesis of a Decade of Research

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