Summaries of all of the latest science on blue whales.
'Antarctic blue whale' rearranged is 'Let Branch wail at cue'.
Posts by Prof @TrevorABranch.bsky.social
Blue whale news
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New sightings and a stranding of blue whales in the SE Atlantic suggest a recovering, but still rare, population
www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2...
New call types reported for eastern Indian Ocean blue whales, in addition to the classic song sequences and social D-calls
doi.org/10.3389/fmar...
In Lamakera, Indonesia (where baleen whaling still occurs), a community survey revealed that 55% see blue whales often. Blue whales are reported caught in in 2021 (baby) and 2022 (adult)*, but should not be.
bioflux.com.ro/docs/2026.71...
*it is possible these were Omura's or Bryde's whales.
Test of the effect of marine vibrators on blue whale behavior reveals some avoidance in lower prey densities but no change when prey density is high.
doi.org/10.1007/978-...
...marine vibrators are an update from seismic airguns that focus their energy on low-frequency noise to survey for oil and gas under the ocean floor. But these low frequencies are at the levels that blue and fin whales communicate. This study suggests limited impacts.
doi.org/10.1007/978-...
The interesting thing is in October NE Pacific blue whales are traveling *north* instead of south, and only heading south in January, far into winter. A secret feeding spot in the north late in the season, go up and snack for a bit and then head south for breeding season?
doi.org/10.3389/fmar...
Also, most of these wintering blue whales (1 Oct-15 May) are far offshore (more than 125 km from the 200 m shelf contour), and would never be picked up by the intensive small-boat surveys used to get photo-ID abundance estimates
doi.org/10.3389/fmar...
