|Scientific Name:||Hyperoodon ampullatus|
|Species Authority:||(Forster, 1770)|
Hyperoodon rostratus Van Beneden & Gervais, 1880
Hyperoodon rostratus Van Beneden & Gervais, 1880
|Taxonomic Notes:||The Northern Bottlenose Whale forms an antitropical species pair with the Southern Bottlenose Whale, Hyperoodon planifrons.|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Data Deficient ver 3.1|
|Assessor/s:||Taylor, B.L., Baird, R., Barlow, J., Dawson, S.M., Ford, J., Mead, J.G., Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., Wade, P. & Pitman, R.L.|
|Reviewer/s:||Hammond, P.S. & Perrin, W.F. (Cetacean Red List Authority)|
As with similar species, threats that could cause widespread declines include high levels of anthropogenic sound, especially military sonar and seismic surveys. The population remains depleted from whaling. However, the decline took place more than three generations ago; the combination of possible declines driven by vulnerability to high-level anthropogenic sound sources is believed sufficient that a 30% global reduction over three generations (53 years; Taylor et al. 2007) cannot be ruled out (criterion A).
|Range Description:||Northern bottlenose whales are found only in the North Atlantic, from New England, USA to Baffin Island and southern Greenland in the west and from the Strait of Gibraltar to Svalbard in the east (c. 38ºN to 72ºN; Mead 1989; Gowans 2002). There are reports from the Mediterranean Sea (Cañadas and Sagarminaga 2000), and some extra-limital records from the Baltic Sea. The best-known subpopulation of the northern bottlenose whale, the best known of all beaked whales, occurs in the waters over “The Gully,” a large submarine canyon off Nova Scotia, Canada (44ºN, 59ºW; Reeves et al. 1993). However, there have been strandings and at least one sighting as far south as North Carolina in the western Atlantic (Mead 1989). The Gully is the southernmost area of consistent northern bottlenose whale presence in the western Atlantic (Wimmer and Whitehead 2004). In the eastern Atlantic, bottlenose whales are occasionally observed off the Azores (Steiner et al. 1998), and have been seen as far south as the Cape Verde Islands (15ºN; Ruud 1937). The pelagic distribution extends from the ice edges south to approximately 30°N.|
Native:Canada; Cape Verde; Faroe Islands; France; Germany; Greenland; Iceland; Ireland; Netherlands; Norway; Portugal; Spain; Svalbard and Jan Mayen; Sweden; United Kingdom; United States
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:||
Atlantic – northeast; Atlantic – northwest
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
Global abundance has not been estimated. A rough estimate open to questions is that about 40,000 occur in the eastern North Atlantic (NAMMCO Annual Report 1995), including an estimated 5,827 (CV=16%) in the high latitudes of the eastern North Atlantic (Gunnlaugsson and Sigurjónsson 1990). Estimates for Icelandic and Faroese waters were 3,142 and 287 whales respectively, although allowance was not made in the surveys for animals not observed because of their long dives. A subpopulation of c. 163 individuals (95% CI 119-214) occurs in the Gully (Scotian Shelf). About 57% of this subpopulation is found in a 20 x 8 km core area at the entrance of the canyon at any time. Mark-recapture analysis of fifteen years of data suggest that this population is stable (Whitehead and Wimmer 2005). Most subpopulations of the species are probably still depleted, due to large kills in the past; over 65,000 animals were killed in a multinational hunt that operated in the North Atlantic from c. 1850 to the early 1970’s (Mitchell 1977; Reeves et al. 1993).
A study by Christensen and Ugland (1983) resulted in an estimated initial (pre-whaling) population size of about 90,000 whales, reduced to some 30,000 by 1914. The population size by the mid-1980s was said to be about 54,000, roughly 60% of the initial stock size.
Historic catch distributions indicated the existence of at least six centers of abundance, each potentially representing a separate stock (Benjaminsen 1972): i) the Gully; ii) northern Labrador-Davis Strait; iii) northern Iceland; iv) and v), off Andenes and Møre, Norway, and vi) around Svalbard, Spitzbergen. Anecdotal reports from whalers suggest a north/south seasonal migration could occur in some regions but there is little strong evidence for this and whales are reported in the Gully year round. They inhabit the most northerly waters of the Barents and Greenland seas in summer (May to August).
The small resident population in the Gully is largely isolated from populations to the north (Labrador) and northwest (northern Iceland); the whales there are smaller and appear to breed at a different time of year (Whitehead et al. 1997b and are genetically distinct at both mitochondrial and nuclear markers, refuting the hypothesis of seasonal migrations between these regions (Dalebout et al. 2006). Little is known about populations in central and western North Atlantic (Reyes et al. 1993). For statistical consideration, Christensen (1975) assumed that all the bottlenose whales caught east of Greenland belonged to a single subpopulation, while Mitchell (1977) defined Cape Farewell (Greenland) to divide west and east North Atlantic catches (Culik 2004).
|Habitat and Ecology:||
These cold temperate to subarctic whales are found in deep waters, mostly seaward of the continental shelf (and generally over 500-1,500 m deep) and near submarine canyons. They sometimes travel several kilometers into broken ice fields, but are more common in open water. Few whales were caught in shallow waters over the continental shelf off Labrador and in waters less than 1000 m deep off the west coast of Norway.
The species occupies a very narrow niche; the primary food source is squid of the genus Gonatus (Hooker et al. 2001; Whitehead et al. 2003). The whales may also occasionally eat fish (such as herring and redfish), sea cucumbers, starfish, and prawns. They do much of their feeding on or near the bottom in very deep water (> 800 m, and as deep as 1,400 m; Hooker and Baird 1999).
This is one of only a few species of beaked whales to be hunted commercially on a large scale. Hunts occurred from the 1850s to the 1970s, and over 65,000 whales were killed (with many more struck but lost; Reeves et al. 1993). They have also been hunted in a drive fishery in the Faroe Islands, with over 800 taken there (Bloch et al. 1996).
By far the major bottlenose whaling nation has been Norway, though some hunting was also done by the UK, Canada and Denmark (Faroes). The northern bottlenose was sought after for its oil (including a form of spermaceti oil in the head) and later for pet food. No hunting of this species has been conducted by Norway since 1973 (Jefferson et al. 1993, Reyes, 1991. The species has been essentially unexploited for almost 30 years, with only a few animals taken in some years in the Faroe Islands (on average 2.2 whales per year in the period 1709-2002). The aggregate population was certainly reduced by whaling, and the extent of recovery is uncertain (Reeves et al. 2003). Mitchell (1977) considered that the population was severely depleted in both the early and modern whaling periods. Few incidental catches have been reported (Reyes 1991).
There are no major fisheries for squid in the Northeast Atlantic, but future developments could represent some threat. This species, like other beaked whales, is likely to be vulnerable to loud anthropogenic sounds, such as those generated by navy sonar and seismic exploration (Cox et al. 2006).
Predicted impacts of global climate change on the marine environment may affect this species of whale, although the nature of impacts is unclear (Learmonth et al. 2006).
The species is included in Appendix I of CITES.
The species was included in the International Whaling Commission schedule in 1977, with recommendations that northern bottlenose whales be granted Protected Stock status with zero catch limit (Klinowska 1991). Populations or stocks are not defined; this, together with estimates of present abundance), should be the focus of future studies (Culik 2004; Dalebout et al. 2006).
Barlow, J. 1999. Trackline detection probability for long-diving whales. In: G. W. Garner, S. C. Amstrup, J. L. Laake, B. J. F. Manley, L. L. McDonald and D. G. Robertson (eds), Marine mammal survey and assessment methods, pp. 209-221. Balkema Press, Netherlands.
Benjaminsen, T. 1972. On the biology of the bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus (Forster). Norwegian Journal of Zoology 20: 233-241.
Bloch, D., Desportes, G., Zachariassen, M. and Christensen, I. 1996. The northern bottlenose whale in the Faroe Islands, 1584-1993. Journal of Zoology (London) 239: 123-140.
Cañadas, A. and Sagarminaga, R. 2000. The northeastern Alboran Sea, an important breeding and feeding ground for the long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) in the Mediterranean Sea. Marine Mammal Science 16(3): 513-529.
Christensen, I. 1975. Preliminary report on the Norwegian fishery for small whales: expansion of Norwegian whaling to Arctic and northwest Atlantic waters, and Norwegian investigations of the biology of small whales. Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada 32: 1083-1094.
Cox, T. M., Ragen, T. J., Read, A. J., Vos, E., Baird, R. W., Balcomb, K., Barlow, J., Caldwell, J., Cranford, T., Crum, L., D'Amico, A., D'Spain, A., Fernández, J., Finneran, J., Gentry, R., Gerth, W., Gulland, F., Hildebrand, J., Houser, D., Hullar, T., Jepson, P. D., Ketten, D., Macleod, C. D., Miller, P., Moore, S., Mountain, D., Palka, D., Ponganis, P., Rommel, S., Rowles, T., Taylor, B., Tyack, P., Wartzok, D., Gisiner, R., Mead, J. and Benner, L. 2006. Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 7(3): 177-187.
Culik, B. M. 2004. Review of small cetaceans: Distribution, behaviour, migration and threats. Marine Mammal Action Plan/Regional Seas Reports and Studies 177: 343 pp.
Dalebout, M. L. 2002. Species identity, genetic diversity, and molecular systematic relationships among the Ziphiidae (beaked whales). Thesis, University of Auckland.
Dalebout, M. L., Ruzzante, D. E., Whitehead, H. and Oien, N. I. 2006. Nuclear and mitochondrial markers reveal distinctiveness of a small population of bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) in the western North Atlantic. Molecular Ecology 15: 3115-3129.
Gowans, S. 2002. Bottlenose whales Hyperoodon ampullatus and
Gunnlaugsson, T. and Sigurjonsson, J. 1990. A note on the problem of false positives in the use natural marking data for abundance estimation. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 12: 143-145.
Hooker, S. K. and Baird, R. W. 1999. Deep-diving behaviour of the northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus (Cetacea: Ziphiidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B Biological Sciences 266: 671-676.
Hooker, S. K., Baird, R. W., Al-Omari, S., Gowans, S. and Whitehead, H. 2001. Behavioral reactions of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus) to biopsy darting and tag attachment procedures. Fishery Bulletin 99: 303-308.
Hooker, S. K., Whitehead, H. and Gowans, S. 1999. Marine protected area design and the spatial and temporal distribution of cetaceans in a submarine canyon. Conservation Biology 13: 592-602.
Jefferson, T. A., Leatherwood, S. and Webber, M. A. 1993. Marine Mammals of the World: FAO Species Identification Guide. United Nation Environment Programme and Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN.
Klinowska, M. 1991. Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales of the World. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.
Learmonth, J. A., Macleod, C. D., Santos, M. B., Pierce, G. J., Crick, H. Q. P. and Robinson, R. A. 2006. Potential effects of climate change on marine mammals. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 44: 431-464.
Mead, J. G. 1989. Bottlenose whales Hyperoodon ampullatus,/i> (Forster, 1770) and Hyperoodon planifrons Flower, 1882. In: S. H. Ridgway and R. Harrison (eds), Handbook of marine mammals, Vol. 4: River dolphins and the larger toothed whales, pp. 321-348. Academic Press.
Mitchell, E. D. 1977. Evidence that the northern bottlenose whale is depleted. Reports of the International Whaling Commission 27: 195-201.
North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission. 1995. Report of the first meeting of the Scientific Committee. North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission, Tromsø, Norway.
Reeves, R. R., Mitchell, E. and Whitehead, H. 1993. Status of the northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus. Canadian Field-Naturalist 107: 490-508.
Reyes, J. C. 1991. The conservation of small cetaceans: a review.
Ruud, J. T. 1937. Bottlenosen Hyperoodon rostratus. Norsk Hvalfangst Tidende 12: 456-458.
Steiner, L., Gordon, J. and Beer, C. J. 1998. Marine Mammals of the Azores. Abstracts of the World Marine Mammal Conference. Monaco.
Taylor, B. L., Chivers, S. J., Larese, J. and Perrin, W. F. 2007. Generation length and percent mature estimates for IUCN assessments of Cetaceans. Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
Whitehead, H. and Wimmer, T. 2005. Heterogeneity and the mark-recapture assessment of the Scotian Shelf population of northern bottlenose whales (Hyperoodon ampullatus). Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 62: 2573-2585.
Whitehead, H., Gowans, S., Faucher, A. and Mccarrey, S. W. 1997. Population analysis of northern bottlenose whales in the Gully, Nova Scotia. Marine Mammal Science 13(2): 173-185.
Whitehead, H., Macleod, C. D. and Rodhouse, P. 2003. Differences in niche breadth among some teuthivorous mesopelagic marine mammals. Marine Mammal Science 19(2): 400-405.
Wimmer, T. and Whitehead, H. 2004. Movements and distribution of northern bottlenose whales, Hyperoodon ampullatus, on the Scotian Slope and in adjacent waters. Canadian Journal of Zoology 82: 1782-1794.
|Citation:||Taylor, B.L., Baird, R., Barlow, J., Dawson, S.M., Ford, J., Mead, J.G., Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., Wade, P. & Pitman, R.L. 2008. Hyperoodon ampullatus. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 May 2013.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided|