Diving behaviour of the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, off the Galapagos Islands

Sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, were tracked by means of a recording depth sounder in the waters off the Galapagos Islands. At depths of less than 300 m the whales generally dived nearly vertically at 60–100 m/min. At greater depths their descents were usually slower. Between February and April 1985, they dived to about 420 m, which is approximately the depth of the oxygen minimum. In 1987, a year of warmer water temperatures, they usually dived about 70 m shallower. There was no apparent diurnal variation in dive depths. None of the whales tracked dived to the ocean floor. Whales dived for about 40 min, followed by 10 min at the surface. Sperm whales usually started to make regular clicks when 150–300 m deep. Young calves appeared not to make prolonged deep dives. Our results are generally consistent with other direct information on the diving behaviour of relatively undisturbed sperm whales, but often conflict with results obtained using sonar for sperm whales being chased by whale catchers.