Short communication: Opportunistic cetacean survey of the Ross Sea and Amundsen Seas

Opportunistic visual surveys of the Ross Sea and the Amundsen Sea were conducted (25 January– 18 February 2026), amounting to 1,015 nautical miles of search effort (83 hours), of which 763 nautical miles (62.4 hours) were south of 60°. Of 192 cetacean sightings, 153 were identified to species level: 69 humpback (n = 179), 34 fin (n = 90), 27 Antarctic minke (n = 71), 11 Antarctic blue (n = 21), seven killer (n = 40), one Arnoux’s beaked (n = 25), and one sperm (n = 1) whale(s). Of the unidentified sightings, 36 were baleen whales and three were beaked whales. Blue whales with calves were recorded in coastal waters off Cape Adare.