TY - JOUR AU - Dalla Rosa , Luciano AU - Félix , Fernando AU - Stevick , Peter T. AU - Secchi , Eduardo R. AU - Allen , Judith M. AU - Chater , Kim AU - Martin , Anthony R. AU - Basso , Manuela PY - 2012/03/20 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Feeding grounds of the eastern South Pacific humpback whale population include the South Orkney Islands JF - Polar Research JA - POLAR VL - 31 IS - 0 SE - Research Notes DO - 10.3402/polar.v31i0.17324 UR - https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2607 SP - AB - This paper reports on two photo-identified humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) that were sighted in different years in the proximity of the South Orkney Islands, at the boundary between the Scotia and Weddell seas (60o54.5’S – 46o40.4’W and 60o42.6’S – 45o33’W). One of the whales had been previously sighted off Ecuador, a breeding ground for the eastern South Pacific population. The other whale was subsequently resighted in Bransfield Strait, off the western Antarctic Peninsula, a well-documented feeding ground for the same population. These matches give support to a hypothesis that the area south of the South Orkney Islands is occupied by whales from the eastern South Pacific breeding stock. Consequently, we propose 40oW as a new longitudinal boundary between the feeding grounds associated with the eastern South Pacific and western South Atlantic breeding stocks.Keywords: Humpback whale; photo-identification; breeding stocks; migration; South Orkney Islands; Southern Ocean(Published: 20 March 2012)Citation: Polar Research 2012, 31, 17324, DOI: 10.3402/polar.v31i0.17324 ER -