Mid-frequency broadband sounds of Blainville's beaked whales

Recordings from acoustic tags show that five Blainville's beaked whales produced mid-frequency broadband sounds on all of their deep dives, with each sex producing two different sound types. These broadband sounds are atypical of the regular echolocation sounds previously described for this spe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioacoustics (Berkhamsted) 2013-06, Vol.22 (2), p.153-163
Main Authors: Dunn, Charlotte, Hickmott, Leigh, Talbot, Darren, Boyd, Ian, Rendell, Luke
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acoustic
beaked whales
broadband
Cetacea
communication
Marine
sonar signals
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Summary:Recordings from acoustic tags show that five Blainville's beaked whales produced mid-frequency broadband sounds on all of their deep dives, with each sex producing two different sound types. These broadband sounds are atypical of the regular echolocation sounds previously described for this species. One male produced a total of 75 sounds over four dives, between the depths of 109 and 524 m, and four females produced a total of 71 sounds over 18 dives, between the depths of 305 and 1289 m. Ninety-six per cent of the male sounds and 42% of the female sounds were produced before the onset of foraging echolocation sounds, and all were produced before the deepest point of the dives. Apparent source levels of the sounds ranged from 124 to 132 dB re 1 μPa (RMS) @1 m. These sounds may be candidate communication signals, with their production timed to mitigate the risk of both predation and hypoxia.
ISSN:0952-4622
2165-0586
DOI:10.1080/09524622.2012.757540