Antarctic Minke Whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) Bio-Duck Call Detection in the Río de la Plata, Uruguay

Abstract

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has become a popular method for studying both marine mammal behavior and distribution, especially among cetaceans. The Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) occurs in the Southern Hemisphere, and our knowledge concerning its vocal behavior is very limited. Along the coast of Uruguay, minke whales constitute one of the species with the most stranding data collected. Until now, sounds of Antarctic minke whales had never been recorded off the Uruguayan coast. Two different bio-duck call types were recorded along the Atlantic Ocean and the Río de la Plata River coasts by employing PAM stations off the coast of Uruguay in five different positions. One call was recorded off the Atlantic coast, and the four other calls were recorded along the Río de la Plata River, including the classic bio-duck call. In addition to the aforementioned bio-duck call, evidence of a novel call, the bio-duck pulse train, was found. This call was produced in an environment very different from the oceanic environment. The bio-duck pulse train has never been described in previous works, making the findings of the present work all the more novel.