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Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey

Foraging decisions of deep-diving cetaceans can provide fundamental insight into food web dynamics of the deep pelagic ocean. Cetacean optimal foraging entails a tight balance between oxygen-conserving dive strategies and access to deep-dwelling prey of sufficient energetic reward. Risso's dolp...

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Autores principales: Visser, Fleur, Keller, Onno A., Oudejans, Machiel G., Nowacek, Douglas P., Kok, Annebelle C. M., Huisman, Jef, Sterck, Elisabeth H. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8633802/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34966548
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202320
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author Visser, Fleur
Keller, Onno A.
Oudejans, Machiel G.
Nowacek, Douglas P.
Kok, Annebelle C. M.
Huisman, Jef
Sterck, Elisabeth H. M.
author_facet Visser, Fleur
Keller, Onno A.
Oudejans, Machiel G.
Nowacek, Douglas P.
Kok, Annebelle C. M.
Huisman, Jef
Sterck, Elisabeth H. M.
author_sort Visser, Fleur
collection PubMed
description Foraging decisions of deep-diving cetaceans can provide fundamental insight into food web dynamics of the deep pelagic ocean. Cetacean optimal foraging entails a tight balance between oxygen-conserving dive strategies and access to deep-dwelling prey of sufficient energetic reward. Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) displayed a thus far unknown dive strategy, which we termed the spin dive. Dives started with intense stroking and right-sided lateral rotation. This remarkable behaviour resulted in a rapid descent. By tracking the fine-scale foraging behaviour of seven tagged individuals, matched with prey layer recordings, we tested the hypothesis that spin dives are foraging dives targeting deep-dwelling prey. Hunting depth traced the diel movement of the deep scattering layer, a dense aggregation of prey, that resides deep during the day and near-surface at night. Individuals shifted their foraging strategy from deep spin dives to shallow non-spin dives around dusk. Spin dives were significantly faster, steeper and deeper than non-spin dives, effectively minimizing transit time to bountiful mesopelagic prey, and were focused on periods when the migratory prey might be easier to catch. Hence, whereas Risso's dolphins were mostly shallow, nocturnal foragers, their spin dives enabled extended and rewarding diurnal foraging on deep-dwelling prey.
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spelling pubmed-86338022021-12-28 Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey Visser, Fleur Keller, Onno A. Oudejans, Machiel G. Nowacek, Douglas P. Kok, Annebelle C. M. Huisman, Jef Sterck, Elisabeth H. M. R Soc Open Sci Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology Foraging decisions of deep-diving cetaceans can provide fundamental insight into food web dynamics of the deep pelagic ocean. Cetacean optimal foraging entails a tight balance between oxygen-conserving dive strategies and access to deep-dwelling prey of sufficient energetic reward. Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) displayed a thus far unknown dive strategy, which we termed the spin dive. Dives started with intense stroking and right-sided lateral rotation. This remarkable behaviour resulted in a rapid descent. By tracking the fine-scale foraging behaviour of seven tagged individuals, matched with prey layer recordings, we tested the hypothesis that spin dives are foraging dives targeting deep-dwelling prey. Hunting depth traced the diel movement of the deep scattering layer, a dense aggregation of prey, that resides deep during the day and near-surface at night. Individuals shifted their foraging strategy from deep spin dives to shallow non-spin dives around dusk. Spin dives were significantly faster, steeper and deeper than non-spin dives, effectively minimizing transit time to bountiful mesopelagic prey, and were focused on periods when the migratory prey might be easier to catch. Hence, whereas Risso's dolphins were mostly shallow, nocturnal foragers, their spin dives enabled extended and rewarding diurnal foraging on deep-dwelling prey. The Royal Society 2021-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8633802/ /pubmed/34966548 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202320 Text en © 2021 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology
Visser, Fleur
Keller, Onno A.
Oudejans, Machiel G.
Nowacek, Douglas P.
Kok, Annebelle C. M.
Huisman, Jef
Sterck, Elisabeth H. M.
Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
title Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
title_full Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
title_fullStr Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
title_full_unstemmed Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
title_short Risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
title_sort risso's dolphins perform spin dives to target deep-dwelling prey
topic Ecology, Conservation and Global Change Biology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8633802/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34966548
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202320
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