My co-authors and I are pleased to share our new Note just published online in Marine Mammal Science: 

Sumich, James L., Renee Albertson and Lani Stelle. Ventilatory Patterns, Oxygen Consumption Rates, Oxygen Stores and Calculated Aerobic Dive Limits of Foraging Gray Whales (Eschrichtius robustus).  You can access it at:http://doi.org/10.1111/mms.70032

SUMMARY: The routine ventilatory behaviors of actively foraging gray whales are expected to avoid excursions into anaerobiosis by remaining within their aerobic dive limits (ADL).  We estimated ADL as the quotient of an animal’s total O₂ stores divided by its rate of O₂ consumption, utilizing published estimates of actively foraging gray whale field metabolic rates and of lung, blood, and muscle O₂ stores to calculate ADL values and compare them to observed patterns of dive durations of adult foraging gray whales.  We then discuss possible reasons why typical observed extended dive times of foraging gray whales are well short of their predicted ADL.