The Dhaka Times Desk Whales have to swim for long periods of time in search of food in deep water. A recent humpback Cuvier's whale set a new deep-water swimming record. Cuvia's whale was about 2 miles deep in the ocean, holding its breath for 2 hours in search of food.
As part of the study, about eight whales were fitted with satellite trackers. These whales were basking off the coast of southern California. This species of whale is already quite adept at deep-sea swimming. Sometimes they can go as deep as 3300 feet in the ocean in search of food. Researchers have conducted experiments on the movements of these whales swimming in open ocean water. They were able to collect about 3,700 hours of data from whales swimming in the ocean or diving in the deep sea. The data collected showed that the whales made about 1,100 deep dives, with an average depth of 0.87 miles or 1.4 kilometers.
One of the whales managed to reach a depth of about 2 miles in the ocean and spent 137 minutes on this journey, which is more than two hours. During this time the whale had to hold its breath. This is a new record for a mammal holding its breath in the deep sea. Its previous record was held by an elephant seal. The seal swam about 1.5 miles deep for two hours.
Gregory Scarr, one of the study's authors, said of the new record, "This social warm-blooded creature suffocated in the deep ocean for so long is expected to open new directions for mammals."
Read more about whales: Huge half-melted whale in Pigeon River!
But sadly, Cuvia's humpback whale is currently one of the endangered species. They face danger due to the sonar resonance of deep-sea submarines.
Reference: The Tech Journal
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