Mesopelagic Fish and Cephalopods in the Diet of Rorquals (Balaenoptera spp.) and Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) Around the Azores Using Fecal and Environmental DNA

Rorquals and sperm whales are top predators of complex open ocean food webs and, although mesopelagic fish and cephalopods are predated upon by these cetaceans, the contribution of these prey groups to the whales' diet is not fully understood. Here, we aimed to better describe the consumption of mesopelagic prey by identifying targeted species at mid‐latitudes. We analyzed the prey availability and predator preferences by comparing the vertical distribution and abundance of fish and cephalopod species in the water column with the prey items found in fecal samples through DNA metabarcoding. We found that rorquals consumed mesopelagic fish that perform diel vertical migrations (DVMs), such as myctophids. These species were found at depths that matched the deep foraging behavior during daytime (0–200 m) and shallow foraging behavior during night (0–50 m), confirming that rorquals rely on the DVM to feed. Also, although a high diversity of cephalopods was found across the water column, the fecal content of sperm whales was mainly composed of Histioteuthis bonnellii, which was abundant between 600 and 1200 m and matches the diving patterns described for this species. Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of the diets of rorquals and sperm whales, expanding our understanding of open ocean trophic ecology to promote effective cetacean conservation.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Marine mammal science

• Publication date

  2025-11-08

• Fields of study

  Not labeled

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/mms.70086
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Global mesozooplankton communities show lower connectivity in deep oceanic layers

  2024cited by this paper
• Assessing mesopelagic fish diversity and diel vertical migration with environmental DNA

  2023cited by this paper
• Mesopelagic fishes are important prey for a diversity of predators

  2023cited by this paper
• Upwellings, canyons and whales: An important winter habitat for balaenopterid whales off Mauritania, northwest Africa

  2023cited by this paper
• Stomach Contents of Three Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) Stranded on Andøya, Northern Norway

  2022cited by this paper
• Dive Behavior and Activity Patterns of Fin Whales in a Migratory Habitat

  2022cited by this paper
• MesopTroph, a database of trophic parameters to study interactions in mesopelagic food webs

  2022influential reference
• The topological nature of tag jumping in environmental DNA metabarcoding studies

  2022cited by this paper
• Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales

  2022cited by this paper
• Cetacean conservation planning in a global diversity hotspot: dealing with uncertainty and data deficiencies

  2021cited by this paper
• A novel metabarcoding primer pair for environmental DNA analysis of Cephalopoda (Mollusca) targeting the nuclear 18S rRNA region

  2021cited by this paper
• Deep-sea predator niche segregation revealed by combined cetacean biologging and eDNA analysis of cephalopod prey

  2021cited by this paper
• Shedding Light on Deep-Sea Biodiversity—A Highly Vulnerable Habitat in the Face of Anthropogenic Change

  2021cited by this paper
• First confirmed stranding of a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

  2021cited by this paper
• Shifting baselines of cetacean conservation in Europe

  2021cited by this paper
• Vertical stratification of environmental DNA in the open ocean captures ecological patterns and behavior of deep‐sea fishes

  2021cited by this paper
• CEPHALOPODS

  2021influential reference
• Tagsteady: a metabarcoding library preparation protocol to avoid false assignment of sequences to samples

  2020cited by this paper
• A Multidisciplinary Approach to Investigate Deep-Pelagic Ecosystem Dynamics in the Gulf of Mexico Following Deepwater Horizon

  2020cited by this paper
• Whale shark-tuna associations, insights from a small pole-and-line fishery from the mid-north Atlantic

  2020cited by this paper
• Groundtruthing of pelagic forage fish detected by hydroacoustics in a whale feeding area using environmental DNA

  2020cited by this paper
• Vertical Distribution Patterns of Cephalopods in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

  2020cited by this paper
• Index hopping on the Illumina HiseqX platform and its consequences for ancient DNA studies

  2019cited by this paper
• Seamount effects on the diel vertical migration and spatial structure of micronekton

  2019cited by this paper
• Indications of mesopelagic foraging by a small odontocete

  2019cited by this paper
• Stable isotopes reveal winter feeding in different habitats in blue, fin and sei whales migrating through the Azores

  2019cited by this paper
• DNA metabarcoding in diet studies: Unveiling ecological aspects in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

  2019cited by this paper
• 15. Physiological And Ecological Consequences Of Extreme Body Size In Whales

  2019cited by this paper
• Non‐specific amplification compromises environmental DNA metabarcoding with COI

  2019cited by this paper
• Movements and geographic distribution of juvenile bluefin tuna in the Northeast Atlantic, described through internal and satellite archival tags

  2018cited by this paper
• Counting with DNA in metabarcoding studies: How should we convert sequence reads to dietary data?

  2018cited by this paper
• New Determination of Prey and Parasite Species for Northern Indian Ocean Blue Whales

  2018cited by this paper
• Stable isotope analysis of fecal material provides insight into the diet of fin whales

  2018cited by this paper
• A REVIEW OF FOOD OF BALAENOPTERID WHALES

  2017cited by this paper
• Foraging behaviour of the sperm whale in the Azores

  2016cited by this paper
• Next‐generation monitoring of aquatic biodiversity using environmental DNA metabarcoding

  2016influential reference
• Sperm whale codas may encode individuality as well as clan identity.

  2016cited by this paper
• Responses of Marine Organisms to Climate Change across Oceans

  2016cited by this paper
• Estimation of a Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Population’s Diet Using Sequencing Analysis of DNA from Feces

  2016cited by this paper
• Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current

  2016cited by this paper
• Seafloor Characteristics in the Azores Region (North Atlantic)

  2016cited by this paper
• The stomach content of a Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus): finding of Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) remains

  2016cited by this paper
• Trophic niche partitioning and diet composition of sympatric fin (Balaenoptera physalus) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Gulf of Alaska revealed through stable isotope analysis

  2016cited by this paper
• Spatial and temporal distribution of cetaceans in the mid-Atlantic waters around the Azores

  2014cited by this paper
• Sei whale movements and behaviour in the North Atlantic inferred from satellite telemetry

  2014cited by this paper
• Large mesopelagic fishes biomass and trophic efficiency in the open ocean

  2014cited by this paper
• Behavioural ecology of the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus in the North Atlantic Ocean

  2014cited by this paper
• Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data

  2014cited by this paper
• Colonization of the deep sea by fishes

  2013cited by this paper
• Loligo forbesii, Veined Squid

  2013cited by this paper
• PEAR: a fast and accurate Illumina Paired-End reAd mergeR

  2013cited by this paper
• North Atlantic Blue and Fin Whales Suspend Their Spring Migration to Forage in Middle Latitudes: Building up Energy Reserves for the Journey?

  2013cited by this paper
• A link between male sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, of the Azores and Norway

  2012cited by this paper
• Modeling the diet of humpback whales: An approach using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in a Bayesian mixing model

  2012cited by this paper
• UCHIME improves sensitivity and speed of chimera detection

  2011cited by this paper
• Cutadapt removes adapter sequences from high-throughput sequencing reads

  2011cited by this paper
• Application of blocking oligonucleotides to improve signal-to-noise ratio in a PCR.

  2011cited by this paper
• Deep-Sea Biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable

  2010cited by this paper
• Predicting the effects of climate change on marine communities and the consequences for fisheries

  2010cited by this paper
• Sei Whale: Balaenoptera borealis

  2009cited by this paper
• Vertical distribution, behavior, chemical composition and metabolism of Stauroteuthis syrtensis (Octopoda: Cirrata) in the northwest Atlantic

  2009cited by this paper
• Sperm Whale: Physeter macrocephalus

  2009cited by this paper
• Bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus) vertical movements in the Azores Islands determined with pop‐up satellite archival tags

  2008cited by this paper
• Diel diving behavior of sperm whales off Japan

  2007cited by this paper
• Naïve Bayesian Classifier for Rapid Assignment of rRNA Sequences into the New Bacterial Taxonomy

  2007cited by this paper
• Kinematics of foraging dives and lunge-feeding in fin whales

  2006cited by this paper
• On the species composition and the distribution of Ceratiid anglers (Ceratiidae) in Russian and adjacent waters

  2006cited by this paper
• Selective foraging by fish-eating killer whales Orcinus orca in British Columbia

  2006cited by this paper
• North Atlantic Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus, strandings on the coastlines of the British lsles and eastern Canada

  2002cited by this paper
• Patterns of diversity, depth range and body size among pelagic fishes along a gradient of depth

  2002cited by this paper
• Mixed-species feeding aggregation of dolphins, large tunas and seabirds in the Azores

  2001cited by this paper
• Diet composition and trophic levels of marine mammals

  1998cited by this paper
• An integrated approch to the foraging ecology of marine birds and mammals

  1998cited by this paper
• Seasonal Abundance of and Estimated Food Consumption by Cetaceans in Icelandic and Adjacent Waters

  1997cited by this paper
• CEPHALOPODS AS PREY. III. CETACEANS

  1996cited by this paper
• The diet of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus 1758) off the Azores.

  1993influential reference
• A review of feeding and reproduction in large baleen whales (Mysticeti) and Sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus in Norwegian and adjacent waters

  1992cited by this paper
• The Diet of Sperm Whales (Physeter Macrocephalus) Captured Between Iceland and Greenland

  1986cited by this paper
• The Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus

  1984cited by this paper
• The Food and Feeding Habits of the Sperm Whales (Physeter Catodon L.) Taken off the West Coast of Iceland

  1969cited by this paper

• No citing papers are available for this paper.