Marine
Biodiversity Records,
page 1 of 6. #
Marine
Biological Association of the United
Kingdom, 2010 doi:10.1017/S1755267210000576;
Vol. 3; e68; 2010 Published online
On the Occurrence of sei whales, Balaenoptera borealis, in the
South-western Atlantic
MIGUEL IÑÍGUEZ1,2, JUAN F.
MASELLO3, CÉSAR GRIBAUDO4, DÉBORA ARCUCCI1,
FLORENCIA KROHLING1 AND JIMENA
BELGRANO1
1Fundación Cethus, Potosí 2087, (B1636BUA), Olivos,
Prov. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2Whale
and Dolphin Conservation Society, Brookfield House, 38 St Paul Street,
Chippenham,
SN15 1LJ,
United
Kingdom. 3 Max Planck Institute for
Ornithology, Vogelwarte
Radolfzell, Germany. 4 Dirección de Museos de Caleta
Olivia, Prov. Santa Cruz, Argentina.
e.mail:
miguel.iniguez@cethus.org
Abstract
This paper reports on the occurrence of the Sei whale
(Balaenoptera borealis) in the South-western Atlantic. Only in recent years Sei whale sightings have
been reported regularly within the surveyed area. In a total of 20 sightings,
65% were reported from August to September. Group size was small, averaging 1.94
(SD=1.21) individuals per group. During this study, feeding behavior and
interactions with sea birds were observed and are here described. Comparison of
our results with historical data from the whaling industry showed that whales
were observed where expected based on past catches. Further studies are
necessary in order to assess the status of Sei whales in the southwestern
Atlantic. However, our data might indicate a
slow recovery in the region. This information will be useful for the
conservation of the species in this area and in the Southern
Hemisphere.