Order within chaos: potential migratory strategies and individual associations in fin whales feeding off Iceland.

Abstract

Background: The life cycle of most baleen whales involves annual migrations from low-latitude breeding grounds to high latitude feeding grounds. In most species, these migrations are traditionally considered to be carried out according to information acquired through vertical social learning during the first months of life and made individually. However, some recent studies have suggested a more complex scenario, particularly for the species of the Balaenoptera genus.

Methods: Here, we studied the variation of δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C values along the growth axis of the baleen plate from 24 fin whales feeding off western Iceland to delve into their pattern of movements and to identify potential associations between individuals. The segment of baleen plate analyzed informed about at least two complete migratory cycles. We performed cluster analyses through two different methodologies and, whenever possible, we genotyped 20 microsatellite loci to determine potential existence of kinship.

Results: Results of the of δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C values agree with a dispersion strategy in the winter breeding grounds. However, and despite the overall large variability, several pairs or groups of individuals with no kinship showed highly similar isotopic patterns for two consecutive years for both δ¹⁵N and δ¹³C values.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that, notably, some whales without kinship share the same migratory regime and destinations. We hypothesize that this could reflect either: (i) the sharing of particularly beneficial migratory regimes, and/or (ii) long-term association between individuals.