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NEW RECORDS OF BLUE WHALES BALAENOPTERA MUSCULUS (LINNAEUS, 1758) IN WINTER SEASON IN THE INLET WATERS OF CHILOÉ CONTINENTAL-CHILE

2010; Volume: 38; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4067/s0718-686x2010000200010

0718-686X

José Zamorano-Abramson, Jorge Gibbons,

Marine animal studies overview

Knowledge of blue whale Balaenoptera musculus (Linnaeus, 1758) distribution is limited, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere (Clapham et al., 1999).Blue whales sightings in Chile peak in summer and early autumn months (Branch et al. 2007).A feeding ground was described in southern Chile (Hucke-gaete et al. 2004).Marine, aerial and land-based platforms surveys have documented the regular presence and concentration of blue whales from 2003 to present in the waters of the northern Los Lagos region (galletti vernazzani et al., 2008, 2009), the outer coast of Chiloé Island (Cabrera et al., 2005), the Corcovado gulf, guaitecas and Chonos Archipelagos and the Moraleda Channel (Huckegaete et al. 2004).In a recent article viddi et al. (2010) showed that mysticetes were distributed disproportionately along a north-south gradient from Puerto Montt to south of Taitao Peninsula in northern Patagonian fjords, in open gulfs with oceanic influence, and close to shore.In contrast, odontocetes were observed mainly within narrow channels, areas with complex coastal morphology, peaking at different water depths.However, the systematic research of Centro de Conservación Cetácea (Cabrera et al. 2005,) and Centro Ballena Azul (Hucke-gaete et al. 2004(Hucke-gaete et al. , viddi et al. 2010) ) work were just undertaken during the austral summer and early autumn months.Therefore, to our knowledge, so far there is no previous work (effort) in fall in the area and there are no sightings of blue whales in winter season in the inshore waters of continental Chiloé.In this note we report a first record of blue whales in winter season obtained in an opportunistic way during winter months in the Chilean Patagonian channels and fjords (Los Lagos region of Chile), extending its season presence and its range to the inlet waters and narrow channels of continental Northeastern-Chiloé.