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

Conor Ryan; Jamie Coleman; Richard White; Eduardo Shaw; Rob McCallum

doi:10.47536/jcrm.v27i1.1145

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

Conor Ryan
, Jamie Coleman
, Richard White
, Eduardo Shaw
, Rob McCallum

SAMS UHI

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	41-44
Number of pages	4
Journal	Journal of Cetacean Research and Management
Volume	27
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.47536/jcrm.v27i1.1145 https://doi.org/10.47536/jcrm.v27i1
Publication status	Published - 3 May 2026

Keywords

Antarctic Minke Whale
Blue Whale
distribution
Fin Whale
Humpback Whale
relative abundance
Amundsen Sea
Antarctica
Cape Adare
East Antarctica
Ross Sea
Southern Ocean
aerial survey
cetacean
coastal water
geographical distribution
whale

Access to Document

10.47536/jcrm.v27i1.1145Licence: CC BY-NC
10.47536/jcrm.v27i1Licence: CC BY-NC

Short communication - Opportunistic cetacean survey of the Ross and Amundsen Seas
© Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License CC‐BY‐NC.
Final published version, 1.84 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

https://journal.iwc.int/index.php/jcrm/article/view/1145Licence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{5acf7017e2c741c0a92bded296a4218f,

title = "Short communication: Opportunistic cetacean survey of the Ross Sea and Amundsen Seas",

abstract = "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{\textquoteright}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.",

keywords = "Antarctic Minke Whale, Blue Whale, distribution, Fin Whale, Humpback Whale, relative abundance, Amundsen Sea, Antarctica, Cape Adare, East Antarctica, Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, aerial survey, cetacean, coastal water, geographical distribution, whale",

author = "Conor Ryan and Jamie Coleman and Richard White and Eduardo Shaw and Rob McCallum",

note = "{\textcopyright} Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License CC‐BY‐NC.",

year = "2026",

month = may,

day = "3",

doi = "10.47536/jcrm.v27i1.1145",

language = "English",

volume = "27",

pages = "41--44",

journal = "Journal of Cetacean Research and Management",

issn = "1561-0713",

publisher = "International Whaling Commission",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Short communication

T2 - Opportunistic cetacean survey of the Ross Sea and Amundsen Seas

AU - Ryan, Conor

AU - Coleman, Jamie

AU - White, Richard

AU - Shaw, Eduardo

AU - McCallum, Rob

N1 - © Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons License CC‐BY‐NC.

PY - 2026/5/3

Y1 - 2026/5/3

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - Antarctic Minke Whale

KW - Blue Whale

KW - distribution

KW - Fin Whale

KW - Humpback Whale

KW - relative abundance

KW - Amundsen Sea

KW - Antarctica

KW - Cape Adare

KW - East Antarctica

KW - Ross Sea

KW - Southern Ocean

KW - aerial survey

KW - cetacean

KW - coastal water

KW - geographical distribution

KW - whale

U2 - 10.47536/jcrm.v27i1.1145

DO - 10.47536/jcrm.v27i1.1145

M3 - Article

SN - 1561-0713

VL - 27

SP - 41

EP - 44

JO - Journal of Cetacean Research and Management

JF - Journal of Cetacean Research and Management

ER -

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

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this