SURFACE FORAGING BEHAVIOR OF THE NORTH-ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE, EUBALAENA-GLACIALIS, AND ASSOCIATED ZOOPLANKTON CHARACTERISTICS

For right whales in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, the swimming path characteristics of feeding, socializing, and travelling were compared. Surface prey patches where right whales fed were dominanted by Calanus finmarchicus, Pseudocalanus minutus, Centropages sp. and larval barnacles. The zooplankton density in the feeding path of the whales tested significantly higher than at stations where whales were not present (mean total densities were 6.54×103 (SE 1.03×103) and 0.87×103 (SE 0.19×103) organisms/m3, respectively). Feeding was rarely observed in locations where the total zooplankton density was <1000 organisms/m3. Rate of change of direction in the feeding path (mean 19.3°/10m of path) was significantly higher than for path of whales travelling (mean 5.3°/10m of path), reflecting area-restricted foraging behaviour. -from Authors