Minke whales, first reported from the eastern Mediterranean

Oz Goffman, Dan Kerem, Shlomi Amiel, Roditi Mia and Ehud Spanier
Israel Marine Mammal Research & Assistance Center (IMMRAC), the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31905 Israel

The body of a 3.55m, 340 Kg male calf minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) was found on the 8th of May 2000, entangled in a gill-net at a depth of 14m, 3.5 km off Akko shore (N 32°.55.09; E 35°.01.40), in Northern Israel. The very fresh calf carcass allowed a practice trial of video-monitored endoscopy, showing fresh milk traces in the esophagus and fore-stomach, with small pieces of plastic in the latter. Detailed autopsy did not reveal significant gross pathology other than drowning. The next 14 days yielded several sightings from trawlers of an estimated 8m whale, swimming in the same general area. On the 15 th of June, the decomposed, headless body of an 8.5m baleen whale was found inside Haifa Port (N 32°.49.41; E 35°.00.58) and towed to a nearby sandy beach. Assuming it to be the mother (awaiting confirmation by DNA analysis), would make these the first reports of minke whales from this region. The only other report we know about is of an individual entering the Black Sea and stranding near Batumi, Georgia, in 1880. The encased, partly cleaned and disjointed calf skeleton was sunk on a 30m deep sandy seafloor and resurfaced 7 weeks later with the bones in a very brittle state that required special restoration measures. The bones of the adult whale were separated, grossly cleaned on-site, tagged and sunk in a shallow sea water enclosure (with weekly inspections) for final cleaning and degreasing. The reconstructed skeletons will serve for course-instruction and public display.