12/4/2023 0 Comments Are blue whales predatorsMany believe it was a blue whale, despite the unmatched frequency, and have labelled it as the world’s loneliest whale. They found that the frequency was 52 Hertz- much higher than a blue whale’s normal song frequency which is 10-40 Hz. In 1989 the US Navy detected an unusually unique whale song among its recordings. Out at sea, most people don’t get to interact with them because they have been observed to be more wary of boats and less social than the humpbacks. Although we know very little about their mating process, they often travel alone or in pods of 2-3 members just like the humpback whales. When feeding, they need to eat 4 times a day. Blue whales don’t have teeth, but rather graze with their baleen plates taking in large gulps of these tiny fish and using their tongue to push out the water so they are left with a mouth full of food. Strange but true, the largest animal on the planet survives by eating one the smallest: krill. Similar to the humpback whale, the blue whale also has a call of its own that can be heard not only miles away (100 miles!) but also miles above at the ocean surface, leading it to have one of the most powerful voices in the animal kingdom. Blue whales in the southern hemisphere are believed to reach lengths longer than the average blue whale in the north. Other than humans, orcas are the only other species who are known to attack blue whales, and they are a threat to their calves (the baby whales). Found across all of earth’s oceans, the blue whale is an apex predator of the marine world. The Blue whale is the largest mammal to have ever lived on earth (if you were to swim next to one in the ocean, it would be two to three school buses long). This includes balancing ecological benefits and local social and economic circumstances, he adds.Īlexander Killion, managing director of the Centre for Biodiversity and Global Change at Yale University, says: “It is important that new protected areas are prioritised to serve the species that we know are most in need of protection,” while also helping to meet carbon and climate goals, which can prevent further loss of habitat.A Blue Whale’s tongue weighs as much as an African Elephant! The establishment, governance and management of such areas should be “inclusive, equitable and human rights-based … underpinned by broad community and stakeholder support,” says Walmsley. However creating MPAs needs careful thought, according to experts. The ridges’ biodiversity is threatened by everything from deep-water trawling to damage from floating plastic debris in the South Pacific gyre and possible future mining exploration. They contain many species of ecological importance – from rare turtles to commercial food sources such as swordfish and jack mackerel – and are migration corridors for at least 82 endangered species. These two chains of underwater mountain ridges sit deep in the clear waters of the south-east Pacific. The Lost City hydrothermal fieldĪ school of Pacific rudderfish on the biodiverse Nazca ridge off Peru. “The Sargasso Sea is also experiencing significant effects from the climate crisis, with a 5,000-mile belt of free-floating sargassum seaweed – dubbed the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt – which risks impacting the Sargasso Sea and wreaking havoc on coastal ecosystems and tourism,” says Dr Simon Walmsley, chief marine adviser to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) UK. Marlins and dolphinfish spawn here white sharks breed here endangered turtles such as the hawksbill and loggerhead live here and all American and European eels start life here.īut the area is at risk of overfishing, pollution, shipping traffic and a garbage patch. The seaweed here is home to more than 120 species of fish, 145 invertebrate species, 26 seabird species and other unique animals such as the sargassum frog fish. It is nicknamed the “golden rainforest of the high seas” thanks to its rich biodiversity and because it acts as a carbon store. This area of the Atlantic Ocean, known for its clumps and mats of sargassum seaweed, is about 3,200km long and 1,100km wide. Jacks take shelter under sargassum seaweed in the Sargasso Sea, the ‘golden rainforest of the high seas’.
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