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Fig. 5.18 Example of spectrogram of whistle (a) and clicks (b) of common dolphin
5.4.6 Long Finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala melas)
The long-finned pilot whale is a large delphinidae presenting a robust body and a
slightly sexual dimorphism, which adult males are larger reaching up to six meters
long (Olson 2009; Bastida et al. 2007). This species inhabits cold-temperate waters
of the North Atlantic and southern Ocean and along Brazilian waters is sighted
mainly south of 30°S and over depths between 500 and 1000 m (Pinedo et al. 2002;
Zerbini et al. 2004; Bastida et al. 2007; Di Tullio et al. 2016) (Fig. 5.19).
The long finned pilot whales vocalizations have been still little described. The
first studies reported whistles, pulsed calls (Busnel and Bziedzic 1966) and clicks
(Busnel and Bziedzic 1966; Busnel et al., 1971) (Fig. 5.20) as part of their vocal
repertoire. Taruski (1979) classified long finned pilot whales’ whistles in seven
broad categories, ranging from simple to complex types. Weilgart and Whitehead (1990)
showed a strong relationship between the type and complexity of vocalization and
the behavior displayed by animals.
Long finned pilot whale whistles recorded in the western South Atlantic presented frequency range between 2.77 and 7.50 kHz and duration between 0.23 and
0.58 s (Fig. 5.20).
5 Marine Mammal Bioacustics Using Towed Array Systems in the Western South…