I recently had the opportunity to assist a boat-based team of researchers from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (Georgia DNR) with biopsy sampling of a right whale calf. Biopsy darting is performed in the Southeastern U.S. each year as a collaborative effort between researchers in the U.S. and Canada.


Photo Credit: New England Aquarium, Karen Vale


Obtaining a biopsy sample (i.e., a sample of skin and blubber) provides genetic information, which can help scientists determine characteristics and relationships such as reproductive success, sex ratio, genetic diversity (loss of genetic diversity can be detrimental, particularly for a critically endangered population with so few individuals), identity of individuals and genetic relationships (e.g., paternity and maternity), etc. Much of my day was spent anxiously waiting on a 20 ft. inflatable boat named the R/V Hurricane (see photo) for the aerial survey team to locate cow/calf pairs.

Late into the day, we finally got the call from Kelly and Suzie in the plane - they located whale #1701 (Aphrodite) and her calf. We quickly headed toward the coordinates provided by the aerial team. Once on scene, the boat was carefully maneuvered into position to obtain photographs and a biopsy sample. Clay George, a researcher with Georgia DNR, readied a crossbow equipped with a modified arrow. Instead of the typical sharp tipped arrow, our arrow is modified with a hollow cylinder tip which allows for collection of a small piece of skin and blubber. The biopsy darting trip was a success and the genetic information of Aphrodite's calf will soon be added to the genetic databank. [read more about biopsy darting with this post from the Bay of Fundy blog.]

-Karen

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Or so we thought when we caught a glimpse of something big in the water below us during our survey last week. Due to the sheer size of the animal, we initially suspected it to be a right whale calf hanging out at the surface, but after a quick once-over of the animal, it became evident that this was no whale.


Photo Credit: New England Aquarium, Kelly Slivka

We had in fact flown over an enormous great white shark, so large that in all likelihood it dwarfed the size of a newborn right whale--our best guess puts the shark at nearly 20 feet in length. Great white sharks are somewhat common in the waters off of Florida and up and down the Eastern seaboard.

These animals are oceanic wanderers, and can be found just about anywhere. We do take data points for sharks as a regular part of our research, and we were able to snap a photo before we continued on our survey. The shark seemed to be heading nowhere in any hurry and slowly slung its tail back and forth, side to side as it swam, its dorsal fin barely grazing the ocean's surface.

-Kelly

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Adverse weather conditions prevented us from flying today, however there is still plenty of work to be done at the field house (pictured on right). On these "no-fly" days, one of our duties as an Observer is to manage and analyze data and images collected during our aerial surveys for the digital North Atlantic right whale catalog.





The catalog has developed from a collaborative effort of various organizations, and is curated by the New England Aquarium. The digital images we take in the plane are coded with supporting data (e.g., behaviors, group associations, location, etc.) and the whales are identified. It is a common misconception that wildlife biologists are always in the field and rarely work indoors. There are always data sets to be managed and our days sometimes consist of more hours looking at a computer screen than looking out of a window, searching for whales.


-Karen



Photo Credit: New England Aquarium/Karen Vale

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The headlines say it all: "Cold stuns sea turtles", "Cold weather killing off fish",and "Brr! Florida manatees warm up at power plant hot tub"! It could be argued that, as a Canadian-born Alaskan resident who works in the Arctic, I might not be the best judge of what constitutes cold weather but that doesn't mean I was unaffected by the recent cold spell here in Florida. Or so, that's the excuse I'm using for momentarily confusing everyone during a recent survey when I slipped up and said "break track right, I have a bowhead whale at 3 o'clock", one of the species I survey for in Arctic waters. Of course, I meant to say 'right whale' but, in point of a fact, the species are more similar than you might imagine. As another observer commented, bowheads look a lot like 'naked' right whales; that is, bowheads are devoid of the distinctive head callosities that we use to identify right whales with, as can be seen in the attached photo.



Unless you spend time around Arctic or sub-Arctic waters, you will likely never see a bowhead whale but it's remarkably similar to the North Atlantic right whale. In fact, they are all in the same family, Balaenidae. The two genera in this family are Eubalaena which include the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Southern right whales, and the Balaena which consist of the bowheads. The size, and body shapes of all in this family are remarkably similar. They do not have throat grooves, lack a dorsal fin, and also produce a v-shaped blow like the right whale.



There are, however, some interesting differences between bowheads and right whales. Notably, bowheads are closely associated with sea ice, and they avoid their only known predators, killer whales and humans, by retreating under ice. Amazingly, thanks to the heavy bone structure of their skulls, they are able to break holes through ice that is 2 feet thick! There are many superlatives that can be applied to the bowhead: they have the largest mouth and head in the animal kingdom (about one third of their body length); their baleen plates are the longest of any whale (up to 14 ft long and 12 ft wide); and they may well be the longest lived mammal on Earth, with some individuals reaching 150 - 200 years in age! Despite these unique characteristics, the commonalities between bowhead and right whales is remarkable and I feel privileged to observe both species. No doubt, this summer I will find myself momentarily stunned by some Arctic sunshine, and will again slip up and call out 'right whale' when I mean to stay 'bowhead'.

-Suzie

Photo credit: Gary Miller, collected under NMFS permit SRP 518.

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Check out this great example of the right whale's characteristic V-shaped blow (see image). The shape of a blow can help scientists distinguish different species of cetaceans when they are seen from afar. For example, the finback whales' blow is tall and slender rising about 20 feet above the surface of the water. The humpback whale has a short bushy blow. The sperm whale has a blow that veers to the left due to the angle of its blowhole.

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