Passive acoustic monitoring allows the assessment of marine mammal occurrence and distribution at greater temporal and spatial scales than is now possible with traditional visual surveys. However, the large volume of acoustic data and the lengthy and laborious task of manually analyzing these data have hindered broad application of this technique. To overcome these limitations, a generalized au...

Following an official recommendation in the Faroe Islands that women should abstain from eating mercury-contaminated pilot whale meat, a survey was carried out to obtain information on dietary habits and hair samples for mercury analysis. A letter was sent to all 1180 women aged 26-30 years who resided within the Faroes, and the women were contacted again 1 year later. A total of 415 women resp...

In this study, we examined the feasibility of using subzonal cell injection with electrofusion for interspecies somatic cell nuclear transfer (iSCNT) to produce sei whale embryos and to improve their developmental capacity by investigating the effect of osmolarity and macromolecules in the culture medium on the in vitro developmental capacity. Hybrid embryos produced by the electrofusion of fet...

The Levantine Basin (LB) is still considered a void as regards its cetacean fauna: species population abundance and distribution patterns are unknown, and even the list of species and their regional status have so far not been finalized. In an effort to fill the knowledge gap, we present original data collected in the LB over the years 1993-2009. The data relies on strandings, bycatch victims a...

The strength of selection to increase the span of a life stage is dependent upon individuals at that stage being able to contribute towards individual fitness and the probability of their surviving to that stage. Complete reproductive cessation and a long post-reproductive female lifespan as found in humans are also found in killer whale (Orcinus orca) and short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala...

We present diving data for four whale sharks in relation to a predictable food pulse (reef fish spawn) and an analysis of the longest continuous fine-resolution diving record for a planktivorous shark. Fine-resolution pressure data from a recovered pop-up archival satellite tag deployed for 206 days on a whale shark were analysed using the fast Fourier Transform method for frequency domain anal...

While biodiversity in deep-sea soft sediments appears to be high, little is known about diversity levels on deep-sea hard substrates. To determine the contribution of potentially abundant whale-skeleton habitats to deep-sea biodiversity, we compare the local macrofaunal species richness and composition on 3 sulfide-rich whale skeletons to assemblages from vents, seeps, and other deepsea hard su...