Bryde's whale: Difference between revisions

'''Bryde's whale''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|ʊ|d|ə|z}} {{respell|BRUU|dəz}}),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Bryde%27s+whale|title=Definition of BRYDE'S WHALE|website=www.merriam-webster.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/hauraki-gulf-thar-she-blows/WBYQ6FV2WDCEVNNOTN47QIVKPY/| title=Hauraki Gulf: Thar she blows| author=Helen Van Berkel| date=13 December 2009| access-date=21 August 2021| website=[[nzherald.co.nz]]| quote=Bryde's (pronounced Brooder's)}}</ref> or the '''Bryde's whale complex''', putatively comprises three species of [[rorqual]] and maybe four. The "[[Species complex|complex]]" means the number and classification remains unclear because of a lack of definitive information and research. The common Bryde's whale ('''''Balaenoptera brydei''''', Olsen, 1913) is a larger form that occurs worldwide in warm temperate and tropical waters, and the '''Sittang''' or '''Eden's whale''' (''B.'''Balaenoptera edeni''''', Anderson, 1879) is a smaller form that may be restricted to the [[Indo-Pacific]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The MarineBio.org|title=Bryde's Whales, ''Balaenoptera edeni''|url=http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=167|access-date=2015-02-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170909021752/http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=167|archive-date=9 September 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> Also, a smaller, coastal form of ''B. brydei'' is found off southern Africa, and perhaps another form in the Indo-Pacific differs in skull morphology, tentatively referred to as the '''Indo-Pacific Bryde's whale'''. The recently described [[Omura's whale]] (''B. omurai'', Wada et al. 2003), was formerly thought to be a pygmy form of Bryde's, but is now recognized as a distinct species. [[Rice's whale]] (''B. ricei''), which makes its home solely in the [[Gulf of Mexico]], was once considered a distinct population of Bryde’sBryde's whale, but in 2021 it was described as a separate species.

''B. brydei'' gets its specific and common name from [[Johan Bryde]], Norwegian consul to South Africa, who helped establish the first modern [[whaling]] station in the country, while ''B. edeni'' gets its specific and common names from Sir [[Ashley Eden]], former High Commissioner of Burma ([[Myanmar]]). [[Sittaung River|Sittang]] whale refers to the type locality of the species.

In 1878, the Scottish zoologist [[John Anderson (zoologist)|John Anderson]], first curator of the [[Indian Museum, Kolkata|Indian Museum]] in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], described ''Balaenoptera edeni'', naming it after the former British High Commissioner in [[Burma]], Sir [[Ashley Eden]], who helped obtain the type specimen. Eden's Deputy Commissioner, Major A.G. Duff, sent a Mr Duke, one of his assistants, to Thaybyoo Creek, between the [[Sittaung River|Sittang]] and Beeling Rivers, on the [[Gulf of Martaban]], where he found a {{convert|37-foot|ft|adj=on|order=flip}} whale, which had stranded there in June 1871 after swimming more than {{convert|20 miles|mi|order=flip}} up the creek—it was said to have "exhausted itself by its furious struggles" to get free and "roared like an elephant" before finally expiring. Despite terrible weather, he was able to secure almost the entire skull and nearly all its vertebrae, along with other bones. These were sent to Anderson, who described the specimen, which was physically mature, as a new species.<ref name="Anderson">Anderson, J. (1878). Anatomical and Zoological Researches: Comprising an Account of the Zoological Results of the Two Expeditions to Western Yunnan in 1868 and 1875; and a Monograph of the Two Cetacean Genera, ''Platanista'' and ''Orcaella''. ''Quaritch'' London. {{doi|10.5962/bhl.title.50434}}</ref> In 1913, the Norwegian scientist Ørjan Olsen, based on the examination of a dozen "sei whales" brought to the whaling stations at [[Durban]] and [[Saldanha Bay|Saldanha]], in South Africa, described ''Balaenoptera brydei'', naming it after the Norwegian consul to South Africa Johan Bryde.<ref name="Olsen">{{cite journal | last1 = Olsen | first1 = Ørjan | year = 1913 | title =On the external characters and biology of Bryde's Whale (''Baloenoptera brydei''), a new Rorqual from the coast of South Africa | journal = Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London | volume = 1913 | pages = 1073–1090 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/70344#/summary |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1913.tb02005.x}}</ref> In 1950, the Dutch scientist G.C.A. Junge, after comparing specimens of ''B. edeni'' and ''B. brydei'' with a {{convert|39-foot|ft|adj=on|order=flip}}, physically mature specimen that had stranded on Pulau Sugi, an island between [[Singapore]] and [[Sumatra]], in July 1936, synonymized the two species into ''B. edeni''.<ref name="Anderson" /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Junge | first1 = G.C.A. | year = 1950 | title = On a specimen of the rare fin whale, ''Balaenoptera edeni'' Anderson, stranded on Pulu Sugi near Singapore | url = http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/148868 | journal = Zoologische Verhandelingen | volume = 9 | issue = 1 | pages = 3–26 }}</ref>

Several differences in anatomy are seenfound between Bryde's and Eden's whales; morphological similarities have caused confusions regarding species identification.<ref>SLAM - Sri Lanka's Amazing Maritime. [http://www.slam.lk/eden-s-whale New Great Whale: Eden’s Whale in Sri Lankan Waters?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122134748/http://www.slam.lk/eden-s-whale |date=22 January 2021 }}. Retrieved on 3 August 2017</ref>

''B. brydei'' occurs in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans between the 40th parallels of latitude, preferring highly productive, tropical, subtropical, and warm, temperate waters of {{convert|61|–|72|F|order=flip}}. In the North Pacific, they occur as far north as [[Honshu]] to the west and southern California in the east, with vagrants reported as far north as [[Washington (state)|Washington]] in the United States. A resident population is found in the [[Gulf of California]] and theyThey occur throughout the eastern tropical Pacific, including [[Peru]] and [[Ecuador]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.pacificwhale.org/2016/07/06/unusual-encounter-with-brydes-whale-in-ecuador/|title=Unusual Encounter with Bryde's Whale in Ecuador|date=6 July 2016}}</ref> where they are absent from July to September. They have also been reported in an upwelling area off [[Chile]] between [[35th parallel south|35°]] and [[37th parallel south|37°S]]. In the southwestern Pacific, they occur as far south as the [[North Island]] of [[New Zealand]].

The population may include up to 90,000–100,000 animals worldwide, with two-thirds inhabiting the [[Northern Hemisphere]].{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}}

For management purposes, the U.S. population is divided into three groups: the Eastern Tropical Pacific stock (11,000–13,000 animals) and the Hawaiian stock (350–500) and an endangered stock of about 100 whales in the Gulf of Mexico.<ref name="GOM Bryde's whale">{{cite web|title=Gulf of Mexico Bryde's Whale|url=https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/gulf-mexico-brydes-whale |website=www.fisheries,noaa.gov |publisher=NOAA |access-date=15 April 2019 |ref=rikbryde}}</ref> As of 2016, the Bryde's whale is considered to be [[critically endangered]] in [[New Zealand]] as there are approximately 200 left in the wild.<ref name="AUT2016">Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/BeFzozm_H5M Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160607000754/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeFzozm_H5M&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=Rare whale footage shot by drone thanks to AUT scientists|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeFzozm_H5M|website=YouTube|publisher=AuklandAuckland University of Technology|access-date=16 November 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Prior to 2006, only two confirmed sightings of Bryde's whale had been reported in the eastern North Pacific north of Baja California—one in January 1963, only a kilometer off [[La Jolla]] (originally misidentified as a fin whale), and another in October 1991 west of [[Monterey Bay]]. Between August 2006 and September 2010, six sightings were made by scientists in the [[Southern California Bight]]. Five were west of [[San Clemente Island]], and one between San Clemente Island and [[Santa Catalina Island (California)|Santa Catalina Island]]. All but one involved single individuals.<ref name="Smultea2012">{{cite journal |last1=Smultea |first1=Mari |title=Short Note: Bryde's Whale (''Balaenoptera brydei/edeni'') Sightings in the Southern California Bight |journal=Aquatic Mammals |date=1 March 2012 |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=92–97 |doi=10.1578/am.38.1.2012.92 }}</ref> Another sighting was made off [[Dana Point, California]], on 19 September 2009, which was originally misidentified as a fin whale.

''Balaenoptera edeni'' is listed as least concern by the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature|International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources]].<ref name=iucn1IUCN/>{{cite iucn | authors = Cooke, J.G. & Brownell Jr., R.L.

It is listed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ([[CITES]]) Appendix I, which prohibits commercial international trade.<ref name="Appendices {{Citation!}} neededCITES">{{Cite web|datetitle=JuneAppendices 2019{{!}} CITES|url=https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php|access-date=2022-01-14|website=cites.org}}</ref>

Modern whaling for Bryde's whales is thought to have begun from coastal stations in Japan in 1906, where it continued uninterrupted until 1987—they were also caught offshore in the western North Pacific by both Japanese (1971–79) and [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] (1966–79) fleets, as well as from [[Taiwan]] (1976–80), the [[Bonin Islands]] (1946–52 and 1981–87), and the [[Philippines]] (1983–85). In 1997, an estimated over 20,000 Bryde's whales had been caught in the western North Pacific between 1911 and 1987 (the Japanese were later found to have falsified their reported take from the Bonin Islands between 1981 and 1987, reporting a catch of only 2,659 instead of the true take of 4,162). A population assessment done in the mid-1990s stated that the population in the western North Pacific may have declined by as much as 49% during 1911–96. Norwegian factory ships off Baja California took an additional 34 Bryde's whales between 1924 and 1929;<ref>{{cite book |last=Tønnessen |first=Johan |author2=Arne Odd Johnsen |author2-link=Arne Odd Johnsen |title=The History of Modern Whaling |year=1982 |publisher=University of California Press, Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-03973-5 }}</ref> two were also caught off central California in 1966.<ref>[http://luna.pos.to/whale/sta_1966.html Whaling in 1965–66 and summer 1966 (IWS)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210828232931/http://luna.pos.to/whale/sta_1966.html |date=28 August 2021 }}. Luna.pos.to. Retrieved on 2011-09-15.</ref>

Tourists on jet skis have harassed whales off the gulf coast of [[Phetchaburi Province]], Thailand.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Yurou |title=Thai minister warns tourists of harsh penalty if found disrupting Bryde's whale |url=http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/15/c_138473603.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191015142544/http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-10/15/c_138473603.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 October 2019 |access-date=15 October 2019 |work=Xinhua |date=15 October 2019}}</ref>

* [http://cetus.ucsd.edu/voicesinthesea_org/species/baleenWhales/brydes.html Voices in the Sea – Sounds of the Bryde's Whale] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121027182713/http://cetus.ucsd.edu/voicesinthesea_org/species/baleenWhales/brydes.html |date=27 October 2012 }}