Geographic and seasonal variation of blue whale calls in the North Pacific

Abstract

The call characteristics and distribution of blue whales in the North Pacific were examined by use of acoustic surveys. Two distinct vocalisation types have been previously attributed to blue whales from limited regions in the North Pacific (cf. Thompson and Friedl, 1982; Rivers, 1997). Hydrophone data from sixteen sites in the North Pacific were examined for these blue whale vocalisations. There were distinct geographic and seasonal differences between the occurrence of the two vocalisation types. The hydrophones that were more westerly recorded the ‘northwestern’ Pacific vocalisation, those in the eastern Pacific recorded the ‘northeastern’ Pacific vocalisation and those in the central Pacific recorded both types. Northeastern vocalisations were recorded from July-December in the northeast Pacific and February-May in the eastern tropical Pacific. Northwestern vocalisations were recorded most often from July-December, and were essentially absent from March-May in the northwestern Pacific. These results suggest that the different vocalisation types may represent at least two distinct groups of blue whales in the North Pacific.