Rare underwater filming of minke whale
A team of marine scientists are counting their blessings after capturing rare underwater footage of a minke whale in the Ross Sea off Antarctica – while on a trip to study killer whales.
Dr Regina Eisert, a marine mammal expert at the University of Canterbury, was on an expedition to Scott Base in January and examining the waters of McMurdo Sound using a prototype camera when she and her colleagues had their
"Unfortunately the system only recorded for just a few hours."
Canterbury University marine mammal expert Dr Regina Eisert
unexpected encounter.
But the scientists had no idea of their slice of luck until footage was examined weeks later.
‘‘I’m such an excited scientist right now,’’ Eisert said.
‘‘The plan was to film continuously across the icebreaker channel that is prepared for the re-supply vessel to cross McMurdo Sound.
‘‘The water’s so clear you can see right across the 50-to-80-metre lane and monitor all the whales that use the channel.
‘‘Unfortunately the system only recorded for just a few hours due to teething problems for this new technology in the field. We had no idea that we had this footage until Anthony [Powell, the camera’s designer] found it when checking the camera back in Christchurch.’’
The footage shows the whale glide into shot, briefly break the icy surface of the Ross Sea, apparently to exhale, before continuing gracefully on its journey.
Eisert believes it may be the first time a minke whale has been filmed underwater and in the sea ice of the Ross Sea, and hopes the findings she and her colleagues made about other minkes will add to the scientific literature on the whale population in the area.
Little is known about Antarctic minke whales, which can grow up to 10m long and weigh nine tonnes.
An estimated 180,000 minke whales live in the wider region around the Ross Sea. While an important link in the Ross Sea food chain, Eisert says little is known about their precise role in the ecosystem.
They are also the only whales that are hunted in the Southern Ocean, ostensibly for scientific purposes. But Eisert believes other methods, such as photo-identification and dart biopsies, can be carried out with causing harm.
The Ross Sea is the world’s largest marine protected area, covering more than 1.5 million square kilometres.