Ecology Summary - Balaenoptera borealis

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Ecology of Balaenoptera borealis

Main Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Remarks	Generally found in coastal, shelf and oceanic waters (Ref. 122680). Feeds at the shelf break and seaward throughout the summer (Ref. 96832). Restricted to mid-latitude temperate zones (Ref. 1394). Uses both skimming and gulping as feeding strategies (Ref. 122680). Skims copepods and other small prey types (Ref. 1394); also feeds on squids (Ref. 122680), euphausiids and a variety of fish including saury and whiting. Also a "swallower." Zooplankton concentrations influence where the whales feed. Migratory (Ref. 96832). Commonly in groups of 2 to 5 individuals (Ref. 801).

Main Ref.

Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993

Remarks

Generally found in coastal, shelf and oceanic waters (Ref. 122680). Feeds at the shelf break and seaward throughout the summer (Ref. 96832). Restricted to mid-latitude temperate zones (Ref. 1394). Uses both skimming and gulping as feeding strategies (Ref. 122680). Skims copepods and other small prey types (Ref. 1394); also feeds on squids (Ref. 122680), euphausiids and a variety of fish including saury and whiting. Also a "swallower." Zooplankton concentrations influence where the whales feed. Migratory (Ref. 96832). Commonly in groups of 2 to 5 individuals (Ref. 801).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Balaenoptera borealis may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Pelagic;
Substrate Ref.	Nowak, R.M., 2003
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Flinn, R.D., A.W. Trites, E.J. Gregr and R.I. Perry, 2002
Feeding habit	filtering plankton
Feeding habit Ref.	Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber, 1993

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	4.02	0.67			Troph of juv./adults.
From individual food items	3.86	0.53			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Tamura, T., K. Konishi, T. Isoda, R. Okamoto and T. Bando, 2009

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