Detections of the Endangered Rice's Whale in the GOM from and Autonomous Glider

In a recent deployment of our teledyne slocum glider in the GOM equipped with a DMON, our team detected a wide range of marine mammal sounds—including dolphins, sperm whales, and, most excitingly, vocalizations from the endangered Rice’s whale.

Above is a spectrogram showing detections of Rice’s whale long moans (red) and a downsweep sequence (yellow).

During the nearly month-long mission, the glider recorded long moans and at least one downsweep sequence across several hours on multiple days. While we are still working to determine the exact position of the glider during these recordings, the findings represent an important and exciting development.

It was not until 2021 that the Rice's whale was recognized as it's own species in the GOM, making it the only baleen whale species believed to reside year-round in the Gulf of Mexico. Since its recognition, researchers have been working to better document its presence and to understand its habitat use and preferences. Given the species’ elusive nature and critically small population, passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) offers a vital, non-invasive tool for tracking and studying this rare whale.

We are thrilled by this discovery and look forward to sharing more as our analysis continues. Stay tuned to our “Current News” page for updates on this and other research projects!