The urea and guanidine hydrochloride (GuHCI) unfolding of sperm whale ferrimyoglobin and of horse ferrimyoglobin has been studied under equilibrium conditions at both neutral and acid pH. Using two spectral parameters (the Soret absorbance and the molar ellipticity at 222 nm) to monitor conformational equilibria, and various thermodynamic treatments of the resulting data, it was found that the ...

The True's beaked whale (Mesoplodon mirus, True 1913) is a poorly known member of the Ziphiidae family. Its distribution in the northern hemisphere is thought to be restricted to the temperate or warm temperate waters of the North Atlantic, while a few stranding records from the southern hemisphere suggest a wider and antitropical distribution, extending to waters from the Atlantic coast of Bra...

It is generally assumed that species with low population sizes have lower genetic diversities than larger populations and vice versa. However, this would not be the case for long-lived species with long generation times, and which populations have declined due to anthropogenic effects, such as the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus). This species was intensively decimated globally to near extinc...

Beluga whale alphaherpesvirus 1 was isolated from a blowhole swab taken from a juvenile beluga whale. The genome is 144,144 bp in size and contains 86 putative genes. The virus groups phylogenetically with members of the genus Varicellovirus in subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae and is the first alphaherpesvirus sequenced from a marine mammal.

A selection of MeO-BDE and BDE congeners were analyzed in pooled blubber samples of pilot whale (Globicephala melas), ringed seal (Phoca hispida), minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), hooded seal (Cystophora cristata), and Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus), covering a time period of more than 20 year...

The North Pacific right whale, Eubalaena japonica, is one of the most endangered species of whale in the world. On 10 August 2004, two right whales were located in the Bering Sea using headings to right whale calls provided by directional sonobuoys. A satellite-monitored radio tag attached to one of these whales functioned for 40 days. Over the 40-day period, this whale moved throughout a large...

The song of Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) comprises repeated, stereotyped, low-frequency calls. Measurements of these calls from recordings spanning many years have revealed a long-term linear decline as well as an intra-annual pattern in tonal frequency. While a number of hypotheses for this long-term decline have been investigated, including changes in population st...

Manually monitoring the population displacement of fish species and the whale individuals is a painful and definitely unscalable process. Video data about fishes often require laborious visual analysis, moreover biologists often use photos of whale caudal for further analysis as it is the most discriminant pattern for distinguishing an individual whale from another. Therefore two challenges wer...