Kinematics and energetics of foraging behavior in Rice’s whales of the Gulf of Mexico

The endangered Rice’s whale (Balaenoptera ricei) is endemic to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and has a small population of fewer than 100 individuals. Little is known about their foraging ecology. Suction cup tags were attached to two Rice’s whales to collect information on their diving kinematics and foraging behavior. The tagged whales primarily exhibited lunge-feeding near the sea bottom and to a lesser extent in the water column and at the sea surface. During foraging dives, the whales typically circled the prey before executing one or two feeding lunges. Longer duration dives and dives with more feeding lunges were followed by an increase in the breathing rate. The average lunge rate of both animals was much lower than expected based on comparative research on other lunge-feeding baleen whales, which may be related to differences in prey or inter-specific differences, or may be an indication of different foraging conditions. Overall, these data show that Rice’s whale foraging behavior d..., Field methods
Rice’s whales were tagged with a suction-cup-attached Acousonde tag (Greeneridge Sciences, Inc.) using the NOAA Ship Gordon Gunter to search for whales and the vessel’s 7-m Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB) R3 to approach the free-ranging animals. The Acousonde tag was attached to the whale using a hand-held pole deployment method. After tag attachment, the whales were tracked by observers on the Gordon Gunter when possible, during daylight hours. A VHF receiver on the tag allowed it to be detected when it was above the water surface and provided direction for recovery after the tag detached from the whale. Milky Way was tagged in 2015 between 20 September 09:44 and 23 September 01:10 (CDT) at 29.261o N and 86.268o W, and in 2018, Edna was tagged on 3 July 17:16 at 28.757o N and 85.705o W with the tag remaining attached until 4 July 18:25 (CDT). The water depth at the location of tagging was determined post hoc from online bathymetry data35. 
The Acousonde (Model B003B) ta...,