Original title: Fin whale movement patterns from the Mediterranean sea reveal summer habitat use in the North Atlantic and potential feeding behavior
Researchers tracked seven fin whales that left the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar and headed north along Spain and Portugal. They also used years of observations from the western Ibiza Channel to study whale movements. The whales first travelled in a clear direction, then spent longer searching within several Atlantic areas; this kind of movement is often linked to feeding. Similar routes across whales and years suggest that some Mediterranean fin whales may regularly use Atlantic waters.
Imagine walking across town to reach a market. Once you arrive, you spend much longer moving around the stalls than you did on the way there. The hard part is working out whether that slower wandering means you are searching for something, rather than simply passing through. In this paper, the whales’ directed travel is the walk across town, and their longer, concentrated movements in Atlantic areas are the time spent searching at the market.
Mediterranean fin whales travel through waters shared by several countries and exposed to intense maritime activity. Knowing that some use Atlantic areas that may be feeding habitats can help conservation efforts account for both those areas and the routes between them.
The evidence comes from seven tracked whales and observations in the western Ibiza Channel. The abstract says the whales’ searching behavior is consistent with feeding, not that feeding was directly confirmed. It also concludes that regular Atlantic use may apply to at least some Mediterranean fin whales, not necessarily the whole population.
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Fin whale movement patterns from the Mediterranean sea reveal summer habitat use in the North Atlantic and potential feeding behavior — Viola Panigada, Blanca Feliu‐Tena, Eduardo Jorge Belda et al. — Scientific Reports — doi:10.1038/s41598-026-74862-0
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.