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Bowhead whales from the East Canada-West Greenland (ECWG) and East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents Sea (EGSB) populations are associated with cold water in the North Atlantic. Here they make highly variable seasonal migrations between coastal areas and offshore waters. The range of EGSB population reaches as far east as the Kara Sea. Sex and age classes also show seasonal segregations where calving mainly seems to occur in Foxe Basin (ECWG) and Northeast Greenland (EGSB). Examination of stomach contents of ECWG whales suggests calanoid copepods as primary prey but feeding on euphausiids could also be an option in offshore areas. The diving activity is split between exploratory V-dives and U-dives that are believed to be feeding dives. A capacity for dives as deep as 582 m and as long as 48 minutes has been observed in Disko Bay. Most diving activity is, however, targeting depths above 300 m where the whales can feed on epibenthic zooplankton concentrations or scattered zooplankton swarms. In the Okhotsk Sea, the southernmost part of the species range, the whales occur in waters with surface temperatures up to 16.5°C and salinities |
