omsi science pub - gray whales

Gray Whales

Adults 40-45 feet long; 40 tons

Calves 15 feet long

SpyhopDrawing by Morris Grover

Gray Whale Blows

Blow released at 200mphHeart-shaped Blow

Blow Holes

2 blow holes

1 blow hole

Baleen Whale

Toothed Whale

Whale Lice

200,000 on their body

Barnacles

Barnacles (200-400lbs) and Barnacle Scar

Feeding

Depress tongue Lift Tongue

Blonde Baleen

Rostrum and Baleen

Baleen and Tongue

Gray Whale Food Items

Mysids Krill

Amphipods

Opportunistic Feeders

Feeding

Skimming

Bottom Feeding-Left Tail Fluke

Dorsal Fins vs. Dorsal Humps

Humpback Dorsal Fins Gray Whale Dorsal Humps

Identify Individuals by Dorsal Hump and

Sometimes Tail Fluke

Behaviors

Breach Kelping

Spyhop

Friendly WhalesFound in San Ignacio Lagoon, Baja Cal. Mexico

What are you looking at?

Ecological Interrelationships

Between Resident Gray Whales and Mysid Shrimp

What is a summer resident gray whale?

• A gray whale that returns in succeeding years.

•A gray whale that spends at least 48 hours in a specific

locality and exhibits feeding behavior.

Why do resident gray whales come to Oregon in the summer?

•Resident grays come for food, primarily mysid shrimp but also porcelain crab larvae (end of May or beginning of June), anchovy and other small prey items.

•The round trip from Oregon to the lagoons of Baja California is less than half the distance (5,000 miles round trip vs 12,000 miles to Alaska). They save energy!

•Out of the 18,000 Eastern Pacific Grays, about 250 resident grays remain from N. California to S. B.C. and don’t go to Alaska.

Porcelain Crab Larvae

Mysid Shrimp

Amphipod

Feeding Behaviors of Gray Whales

Skim Feeding on Crab Larvae

Mysid Feeding-notice left fluke is in the air so the whale is on its right side above bottom.

Each feeding behavior is unique for the type of prey the gray whale is targeting.

Feeding on mysids in a Bullwhip Kelp bed-looks like

a shark fin.

Mysid Swarms Seen on Fish Finders

(Red Band above the Black Bottom) Swarm 8 foot thick and continuous

Sharking- indicative of mysid feeding seen in areas with thick echogram traces of mysids and shallow waters 20-35 feet deep

How do We Know What They Eat?

1. Visual Observation of Feeding-Jean Michel Cousteau and his dive team tried to film this behavior in 2004-No Success (PBS film on research aired in July of 2006 called “Gray Whale Obstacle Course” by Ocean Futures Society).

2. Dissect open a dead whale-rare to encounter a freshly dead whale in sampling locality.

3. Collect fecal material-Being at the right place at the right time! This is my method!

Whale Fecal MaterialA dream come true!

What is in Whale Fecal Material?What is in Whale Fecal

Material?

Mysid with Telson

Statocyst Neomysis telson to

Left

Holmesimysis to right

What are Mysid Shrimp and How are they Different from

Krill?•Mysids are crustaceans like crabs and ghost shrimp but they look most similar to krill

Mysid

Krill

Brown or transparent, slim, stalked eyes and

found in near shore habitats

Krill are orange, stocky, eyes not on stalks and found in offshore habitats

Why are Mysids so Important?

•They are important as a food sourcefor salmon, rockfish, birds and gray

whales

•They are used in toxicity studies

Females brooding young have a higher

lipid value

What have I learned about mysid shrimp?

1.How to identify the 2 different species

2.How to sex them

3.How to sample population dynamics information about

them

4.How to determine swarm area localities

5.How to determine available biomass for the whales

6. Understanding their life history

Mysid Sexes

How do you sample population dynamics information of

mysids?

Put down plankton

net

Put down underwater

camera

Determine density with acrylic cube

Use of an acoustic sensor

Determining Density and Nearest Neighbor Distances

(NND)

Mysids NND can be from ½ body length

to 2 body lengths

Acrylic Cube

Determining Mysid

Thickness with a Fish Finder

What Do We Know About the Life History of

Mysids?

Female Holmesimysis with brood pouch of 32 eggs-Stage 1Mysids

undergo 3 stages while in the brood

pouch. To the right is: Stage 1-the Egg Stage

Mysid Larval Stages, Stage 2 and Stage 3

Female with 19 Stage 2 larva or “Torpedo stage” Late Stage 2, eyes pigmented

Stage 3 Molted Larva have eyes on stalks -also called the “Cookie Monster Stage”

Problems Facing Gray WhalesNatural Problems

1. Changes in Prey Biomass ie. El Nino

2. Attacks by Orcas ie. 1/3 Calves killed each year

Man-made Problems1. Boat Hits

2. Entanglement in Fishing Gear

3. Shot or Harpooned

4. Noise Levels ie. Shell Offshore Inc., 190dB problem

5. Toxins ie. Stinky Whales

What Happens to Gray Whales in Years with Poor Mysid Biomass?

2005 was a poor year for mysids and

2006 was an excellent year for mysids

2006

2005

Model Comparing Years of Continual Upwelling and

Sporadic Upwelling

2005 and 2010 - weak winds

2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 - strong winds

Changes in Prey Biomass

Problems with 2005 and 2010 Gray Whales

•Reduced NW winds resulting in lack of food

•Whales not staying in area, move through just to check out what food is available.

•Whales that are around are skinny with scapula showing through the skin and a depression behind blow hole.

•Breath not stinky.

Body Condition varies with changes in Biomass

Depression in Profile

Straight Profile

Good Body Condition seen in 2006

Poor Body Condition seen in 2005

They can become undernourished due to lack of food supplies

Whales are sensitive to changes in their environment as seen by the

scapula protruding

Orca Attacks

Transient Orcas kill seals, sea lions and

whales

Tooth rakes on tail fluke or

neck

Orcas Attack Star

Star’s fluke in 1999 Star’s fluke in 2006

Evidence of an orca attack with tooth rakes on ventral and dorsal flukes

Orcas Attack mom Matrix

Slasher and calf Nifer

Boat Propeller Cuts on Residents

Cutter

Rambolina

Zebra Stripe

rdh

Zebra Stripe-left dorsal hump

Zebra Stripe-rdh

Football

ScarbackOur most famous resident got hit

by a harpoon

Hit by exploding harpoon between 1985-1987

Whale lice

Scarback’s Tail Flukes

changing with age-

she’s turning

gray

New Discovery

Entanglement in Crab Pot Lines

Humpback entangled in crab pot line

They can get lesions over their body

due to toxins in the water

or a depressed immune system

Gray Whales with Toxins

Identification of Individual Gray Whales by Dorsal Hump Region

Eagle Eye was born in 1994 to Snake Eyes and is a

male

Rare Flukeage Poopage

Eagle Eye

White Whales and Dark Whales

Chunky

Ghost

8-Ball

Spike named for

spikey dorsal

hump and knuckles

Ridgeback named for long ridge-like dorsal

hump

Vinnie-A young whale named for the V-shaped dorsal hump and nn on

neck

Morisa named for

Morse Code-Dot and Dash

Milky Way -Scarback’s 2004 calf that returned

as a 5-year old

2002

LDH

RDH

Stretch named for stretch-mark like

horizontal lines and stretching/breaching

out of the water

2004

Patches named for barnacle patches on body

U-Fish

Notice the U and Fish on each side of the dorsal

hump

Dotsee Trio

Am I Dotsee or Trio

Valentine

Notice the white heart and smooth dorsal hump-been here since 2003

CometNotice the long white

comet tail in front of the dorsal hump, c on the knuckles and how she

blows underwater

Shamrock

Arrow

Notice the white arrow on the left

dorsal hump and he’s a

lefty

PointerNotice pointed

dorsal hump and killer whale tooth

rakes and bite marks

New Discovery-Gray Whale DD Bubble

Net Feeding

Dotty Meteor

Winky

How would you distinguish these

individual whales?

Oregon’s Resident Whales

Courting

Fluking In Synchrony

Courting Behavior, late summer, female on left

.

Olivia P. Dorsi-a very

promiscious young female

Oh No it’s two Pink Floyds-only 6 feet long, hot pink and prehensile

Curious Oregon Gray Whales

Resident gray whale Localities

Whale Cove

Cape Foulweather

Boiler Bay

Eagle Eye heading towards Depoe Bay

My Zodiac with my dog and first mate,

Kida

Close Encounters of the Whale Kind

Kida and the Whales

Good Bye From Ribbon

Good Bye From Snowflake

Good Bye From Stretch

Good Bye From Wishbone

   20052005 20062006

Resident WhalesResident Whales      

Observing HoursObserving Hours 228228 462462

Days ObservingDays Observing 3838 7777

Number of Resident WhalesNumber of Resident Whales 1515 3737

Percent of Time of Whales in Percent of Time of Whales in ResidencyResidency

20%20% 95%95%

Percent of Time in Mysid FeedingPercent of Time in Mysid Feeding 19%19% 90%90%

Percent of Whales in Poor ConditionPercent of Whales in Poor Condition 80%80% 0%0%

MysidsMysids      

Mean Number of Eggs/Female in Mean Number of Eggs/Female in May (n=52)May (n=52)

2222(4.34)(4.34)

2525(4.32(4.32

Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in May (n=85)May (n=85)

1919(1.58)(1.58)

21 21 (1.29(1.29

Mean Number of Eggs/Female in Mean Number of Eggs/Female in August (n=67)August (n=67)

00 33 33 (1.59(1.59

Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in Mean Number of Juveniles/Female in August (n=75)August (n=75)

00 20 20 (2.16(2.16