Species identification and likely catch time period of whale bones from South Georgia

Skeletal remains of baleen whales killed during the onset of 20th century commercial whaling lie scattered across the shores and abandoned whaling stations of the subantarctic island of South Georgia. Here we report on genetic species identification of whale bones collected from South Georgia using standard historical DNA protocols. We amplified and sequenced short fragments of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region from 281 available bone samples. Of these, 231 provided mtDNA sequences of sufficient quality and length (174–194 bp) for species identification: 158 bones were identified as humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), 51 bones were identified as fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), 18 bones were identified as blue whale (B. musculus), two bones were identified as sei whale (B. borealis), one bone was identified as a southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), and one bone was identified as a southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina). The prominence of humpback, fin, and bl...

20世纪商业捕鲸兴起期间被捕杀的须鲸骨骼残骸，散落在亚南极岛屿南乔治亚岛的海岸及废弃捕鲸站各处。本文报道了采用标准历史DNA实验方案对南乔治亚岛采集的鲸类骨骼进行遗传物种鉴定的结果。我们从281份可用骨骼样本中扩增并测序了线粒体DNA（mtDNA）控制区的短片段。其中231份样本提供了质量和长度（174–194 bp）均满足物种鉴定要求的mtDNA序列：158份骨骼被鉴定为座头鲸（Megaptera novaeangliae），51份为长须鲸（Balaenoptera physalus），18份为蓝鲸（B. musculus），2份为塞鲸（B. borealis），1份为南露脊鲸（Eubalaena australis），另有1份为南象海豹（Mirounga leonina）。座头鲸、长须鲸及蓝...