Conor Ryan, Maria C I Martins, Kevin Healy, Lars Bejder, Salvatore Cerchio, Fredrik Christiansen, John Durban, Holly Fearnbach, Sarah Fortune, Ari Friedlaender, William R Koski, Carolyn Miller, Fabian M Rodríguez-González, Paolo S Segre, Jorge Urbán R, Fabien Vivier, Caroline R Weir, Michael J Moore
The sensory mechanisms used by baleen whales (Mysticeti) for locating ephemeral, dense prey patches in vast marine habitats are poorly understood. Baleen whales have a functional olfactory system with paired rather than single blowholes (nares), potentially enabling stereo-olfaction. Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is an odorous gas emitted by phytoplankton in response to grazing by zooplankton. Some seabirds use DMS to locate prey, but this ability has not been demonstrated in whales. For 14 extant species of baleen whale, nares morphometrics (imagery from unoccupied aerial systems, UAS) was related to published trophic level indices using Bayesian phylogenetic mixed modelling...
January 2024: Biology Letters