Shaped by Their Environment: Variation in Blue Whale Morphology across Three Productive Coastal Ecosystems.

Species ecology and life history patterns are often reflected in animal morphology. Blue whales are globally distributed, with distinct populations that feed in different productive coastal regions worldwide. Thus, they provide an opportunity to investigate how regional ecosystem characteristics may drive morphological differences within a species. Here, we compare physical and biological oceanography of three different blue whale foraging grounds: (1) Monterey Bay, California, USA; (2) the South Taranaki Bight (STB), Aotearoa New Zealand; and (3) the Corcovado Gulf, Chile. Additionally, we compare the morphology of blue whales from these regions using unoccupied aircraft imagery. Monterey Bay and the Corcovado Gulf are seasonally productive and support the migratory life history strategy of the Eastern North Pacific (ENP) and Chilean blue whale populations, respectively. In contrast, the New Zealand blue whale population remains in the less productive STB year-round. All three populations were indistinguishable in total body length. However, New Zealand blue whales were in significantly higher body condition despite lower regional productivity, potentially attributable to their non-migratory strategy that facilitates lower risk of spatiotemporal misalignment with more consistently available foraging opportunities. Alternatively, the migratory strategy of the ENP and Chilean populations may be successful when their presence on the foraging grounds temporally aligns with abundant prey availability. We document differences in skull and fluke morphology between populations, which may relate to different feeding behaviors adapted to region-specific prey and habitat characteristics. These morphological features may represent a trade-off between maneuverability for prey capture and efficient long-distance migration. As oceanographic patterns shift relative to long-term means under climate change, these blue whale populations may show different vulnerabilities due to differences in migratory phenology and feeding behavior between regions. Spanish abstract La ecología y patrones de historia de vida de las especies a menudo se reflejan en la morfología animal. Las ballenas azules están distribuidas globalmente, con poblaciones separadas que se alimentan en diferentes regiones costeras productivas de todo el mundo. Por lo tanto, brindan la oportunidad de investigar cómo las características regionales de los ecosistemas pueden impulsar diferencias morfológicas dentro de una especie. Aquí, comparamos la oceanografía física y biológica de tres zonas de alimentación diferentes de la ballena azul: (1) Bahía de Monterey, California, EE. UU., (2) Bahía del sur de Taranaki (BST), Nueva Zelanda, y (3) Golfo de Corcovado, Chile. Adicionalmente, comparamos la morfología de las ballenas azules de estas regiones utilizando imágenes de aeronaves no tripuladas. La Bahía de Monterey y el Golfo de Corcovado son estacionalmente productivos y apoyan la estrategia migratoria de la historia de vida de las poblaciones de ballena azul chilena y del Pacífico Norte Oriental (PNO), respectivamente. Por el contrario, la población de ballena azul de Nueva Zelanda permanece en la menos productiva BST durante todo el año. Las tres poblaciones eran indistinguibles en cuanto a la longitud corporal total. Sin embargo, las ballenas azules de Nueva Zelanda tenían una condición corporal significativamente mayor a pesar de una menor productividad regional, potencialmente atribuible a su estrategia no migratoria que facilita un menor riesgo de desalineación espaciotemporal con oportunidades de alimentación disponibles de manera más consistente. Alternativamente, la estrategia migratoria de las poblaciones de ballenas PNO y chilena puede tener éxito cuando su presencia en las zonas de alimentación se alinea temporalmente con la abundante disponibilidad de presas. Documentamos diferencias en la morfología del cráneo y la aleta caudal entre poblaciones, que pueden estar relacionadas con diferentes comportamientos de alimentación adaptados a las características de hábitat y presas específicas para cada región. Estas características morfológicas pueden representar una compensación entre la maniobrabilidad para la captura de presas y una migración eficiente a larga distancia. A medida que los patrones oceanográficos cambian en términos de mediano a largo plazo debido al cambio climático, estas poblaciones de ballenas azules pueden mostrar diferentes vulnerabilidades debido a diferencias en la fenología migratoria y el comportamiento de alimentación entre regiones.

Field measurements reveal exposure risk to microplastic ingestion by filter-feeding megafauna.

Microparticles, such as microplastics and microfibers, are ubiquitous in marine food webs. Filter-feeding megafauna may be at extreme risk of exposure to microplastics, but neither the amount nor pathway of microplastic ingestion are well understood. Here, we combine depth-integrated microplastic data from the California Current Ecosystem with high-resolution foraging measurements from 191 tag deployments on blue, fin, and humpback whales to quantify plastic ingestion rates and routes of exposure. We find that baleen whales predominantly feed at depths of 50-250 m, coinciding with the highest measured microplastic concentrations in the pelagic ecosystem. Nearly all (99%) microplastic ingestion is predicted to occur via trophic transfer. We predict that fish-feeding whales are less exposed to microplastic ingestion than krill-feeding whales. Per day, a krill-obligate blue whale may ingest 10 million pieces of microplastic, while a fish-feeding humpback whale likely ingests 200,000 pieces of microplastic. For species struggling to recover from historical whaling alongside other anthropogenic pressures, our findings suggest that the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors require further attention.

Demography of an ice-obligate mysticete in a region of rapid environmental change.

Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis, AMW) are an abundant, ice-dependent species susceptible to rapid climatic changes occurring in parts of the Antarctic. Here, we used remote biopsy samples and estimates of length derived from unoccupied aircraft system (UAS) to characterize for the first time the sex ratio, maturity, and pregnancy rates of AMWs around the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). DNA profiling of 82 biopsy samples (2013-2020) identified 29 individual males and 40 individual females. Blubber progesterone levels indicated 59% of all sampled females were pregnant, irrespective of maturity. When corrected for sexual maturity, the median pregnancy rate was 92.3%, indicating that most mature females become pregnant each year. We measured 68 individuals by UAS (mean = 8.04 m) and estimated that 66.5% of females were mature. This study provides the first data on the demography of AMWs along the WAP and represents the first use of non-lethal approaches to studying this species. Furthermore, these results provide baselines against which future changes in population status can be assessed in this rapidly changing marine ecosystem.

Variation in blubber cortisol levels in a recovering humpback whale population inhabiting a rapidly changing environment.

Glucocorticoids are regularly used as biomarkers of relative health for individuals and populations. Around the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), baleen whales have and continue to experience threats, including commercial harvest, prey limitations and habitat change driven by rapid warming, and increased human presence via ecotourism. Here, we measured demographic variation and differences across the foraging season in blubber cortisol levels of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) over two years around the WAP. Cortisol concentrations were determined from 305 biopsy samples of unique individuals. We found no significant difference in the cortisol concentration between male and female whales. However, we observed significant differences across demographic groups of females and a significant decrease in the population across the feeding season. We also assessed whether COVID-19-related reductions in tourism in 2021 along the WAP correlated with lower cortisol levels across the population. The decline in vessel presence in 2021 was associated with a significant decrease in humpback whale blubber cortisol concentrations at the population level. Our findings provide critical contextual data on how these hormones vary naturally in a population over time, show direct associations between cortisol levels and human presence, and will enable comparisons among species experiencing different levels of human disturbance.

Acoustic signalling and behaviour of Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis).

Acoustic signalling is the predominant form of communication among cetaceans. Understanding the behavioural state of calling individuals can provide insights into the specific function of sound production; in turn, this information can aid the evaluation of passive monitoring datasets to estimate species presence, density, and behaviour. Antarctic minke whales are the most numerous baleen whale species in the Southern Ocean. However, our knowledge of their vocal behaviour is limited. Using, to our knowledge, the first animal-borne audio-video documentation of underwater behaviour in this species, we characterize Antarctic minke whale sound production and evaluate the association between acoustic behaviour, foraging behaviour, diel patterns and the presence of close conspecifics. In addition to the previously described downsweep call, we find evidence of three novel calls not previously described in their vocal repertoire. Overall, these signals displayed peak frequencies between 90 and 175 Hz and ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 s on average (90% duration). Additionally, each of the four call types was associated with measured behavioural and environmental parameters. Our results represent a significant advancement in understanding of the life history of this species and improve our capacity to acoustically monitor minke whales in a rapidly changing Antarctic region.

Rorqual Lunge-Feeding Energetics Near and Away from the Kinematic Threshold of Optimal Efficiency.

Humpback and blue whales are large baleen-bearing cetaceans, which use a unique prey-acquisition strategy-lunge feeding-to engulf entire patches of large plankton or schools of forage fish and the water in which they are embedded. Dynamically, and while foraging on krill, lunge-feeding incurs metabolic expenditures estimated at up to 20.0 MJ. Because of prey abundance and its capture in bulk, lunge feeding is carried out at high acquired-to-expended energy ratios of up to 30 at the largest body sizes (∼27 m). We use bio-logging tag data and the work-energy theorem to show that when krill-feeding at depth while using a wide range of prey approach swimming speeds (2-5 m/s), rorquals generate significant and widely varying metabolic power output during engulfment, typically ranging from 10 to 50 times the basal metabolic rate of land mammals. At equal prey field density, such output variations lower their feeding efficiency two- to three-fold at high foraging speeds, thereby allowing slow and smaller rorquals to feed more efficiently than fast and larger rorquals. The analysis also shows how the slowest speeds of harvest so far measured may be connected to the biomechanics of the buccal cavity and the prey's ability to collectively avoid engulfment. Such minimal speeds are important as they generate the most efficient lunges. Sommaire Les rorquals à bosse et rorquals bleus sont des baleines à fanons qui utilisent une technique d'alimentation unique impliquant une approche avec élan pour engouffrer de larges quantités de plancton et bancs de petits poissons, ainsi que la masse d'eau dans laquelle ces proies sont situés. Du point de vue de la dynamique, et durant l'approche et engouffrement de krill, leurs dépenses énergétiques sont estimées jusqu'à 20.0 MJ. À cause de l'abondance de leurs proies et capture en masse, cette technique d'alimentation est effectuée à des rapports d'efficacité énergétique (acquise -versus- dépensée) estimés aux environs de 30 dans le cas des plus grandes baleines (27 m). Nous utilisons les données recueillies par des capteurs de bio-enregistrement ainsi que le théorème reliant l'énergie à l'effort pour démontrer comment les rorquals s'alimentant sur le krill à grandes profondeurs, et à des vitesses variant entre 2 et 5 m/s, maintiennent des taux de dépenses énergétiques entre 10 et 50 fois le taux métabolique basal des mammifères terrestres. À densités de proies égales, ces variations d'énergie utilisée peuvent réduire le rapport d'efficacité énergétique par des facteurs entre 2x et 3x, donc permettant aux petits et plus lents rorquals de chasser avec une efficacité comparable à celle des rorquals les plus grands et rapides. Notre analyse démontre aussi comment des vitesses d'approche plus lentes peuvent être reliées à la biomécanique de leur poche ventrale extensible, et à l'habilitée des proies à éviter d'être engouffrer. Ces minimums de vitesses sont importants car ils permettent une alimentation plus efficace énergétiquement.

The largest of August Krogh animals: Physiology and biomechanics of the blue whale revisited.

The blue whale is the largest animal ever. This gigantism probably evolved to exploit seasonal krill blooms, where massive feasts allow for accumulation of large blubber reserves that can fuel their low mass specific metabolism during prolonged periods of fasting. Until recently, the physiology and biomechanics of blue whales could only be inferred from anatomical inspections, but the recent development of biologging tags now provide unique insights into how these ocean giants function and interact with their environment. Their mandibles, the largest bones ever to evolve, along with a highly expandable buccal cavity, enable an extreme and dynamic bulk feeding behavior. During a lunge feeding event, blue whales accelerate up to 5 m/s to engulf a volume prey laden water that is commensurate with the whale's gigantic body size. Perhaps due to the costs of such extreme foraging, their dive times of 10-15 min are much shorter than scaling would predict for their size. Like other diving animals, blue whales display a dive response with heart rates down to 4 BPM to prolong dive times and perhaps mitigate decompression sickness. Blue whales make the lowest and most energetic calls of any mammal with ocean traversing potential under natural ambient noise conditions. However, communication space may be severely reduced due to pervasive shipping noise. We hope that an increasing ability to study the physiology and behavior of blue whales and other marine megafauna will enable informed decisions and ensure our permanent co-existence in the face of increasing human encroachment into marine habitats.

Lunge filter feeding biomechanics constrain rorqual foraging ecology across scale.

Fundamental scaling relationships influence the physiology of vital rates, which in turn shape the ecology and evolution of organisms. For diving mammals, benefits conferred by large body size include reduced transport costs and enhanced breath-holding capacity, thereby increasing overall foraging efficiency. Rorqual whales feed by engulfing a large mass of prey-laden water at high speed and filtering it through baleen plates. However, as engulfment capacity increases with body length (engulfment volume∝body length3.57), the surface area of the baleen filter does not increase proportionally (baleen area∝body length1.82), and thus the filtration time of larger rorquals predictably increases as the baleen surface area must filter a disproportionally large amount of water. We predicted that filtration time should scale with body length to the power of 1.75 (filter time∝body length1.75). We tested this hypothesis on four rorqual species using multi-sensor tags with corresponding unoccupied aircraft systems-based body length estimates. We found that filter time scales with body length to the power of 1.79 (95% CI: 1.61-1.97). This result highlights a scale-dependent trade-off between engulfment capacity and baleen area that creates a biomechanical constraint to foraging through increased filtration time. Consequently, larger whales must target high-density prey patches commensurate to the gulp size to meet their increased energetic demands. If these optimal patches are absent, larger rorquals may experience reduced foraging efficiency compared with smaller whales if they do not match their engulfment capacity to the size of targeted prey aggregations.

Why whales are big but not bigger: Physiological drivers and ecological limits in the age of ocean giants.

The largest animals are marine filter feeders, but the underlying mechanism of their large size remains unexplained. We measured feeding performance and prey quality to demonstrate how whale gigantism is driven by the interplay of prey abundance and harvesting mechanisms that increase prey capture rates and energy intake. The foraging efficiency of toothed whales that feed on single prey is constrained by the abundance of large prey, whereas filter-feeding baleen whales seasonally exploit vast swarms of small prey at high efficiencies. Given temporally and spatially aggregated prey, filter feeding provides an evolutionary pathway to extremes in body size that are not available to lineages that must feed on one prey at a time. Maximum size in filter feeders is likely constrained by prey availability across space and time.

Extreme bradycardia and tachycardia in the world's largest animal.

The biology of the blue whale has long fascinated physiologists because of the animal's extreme size. Despite high energetic demands from a large body, low mass-specific metabolic rates are likely powered by low heart rates. Diving bradycardia should slow blood oxygen depletion and enhance dive time available for foraging at depth. However, blue whales exhibit a high-cost feeding mechanism, lunge feeding, whereby large volumes of prey-laden water are intermittently engulfed and filtered during dives. This paradox of such a large, slowly beating heart and the high cost of lunge feeding represents a unique test of our understanding of cardiac function, hemodynamics, and physiological limits to body size. Here, we used an electrocardiogram (ECG)-depth recorder tag to measure blue whale heart rates during foraging dives as deep as 184 m and as long as 16.5 min. Heart rates during dives were typically 4 to 8 beats min-1 (bpm) and as low as 2 bpm, while after-dive surface heart rates were 25 to 37 bpm, near the estimated maximum heart rate possible. Despite extreme bradycardia, we recorded a 2.5-fold increase above diving heart rate minima during the powered ascent phase of feeding lunges followed by a gradual decrease of heart rate during the prolonged glide as engulfed water is filtered. These heart rate dynamics explain the unique hemodynamic design in rorqual whales consisting of a large-diameter, highly compliant, elastic aortic arch that allows the aorta to accommodate blood ejected by the heart and maintain blood flow during the long and variable pauses between heartbeats.

Body Flexibility Enhances Maneuverability in the World's Largest Predator.

Blue whales are often characterized as highly stable, open-ocean swimmers who sacrifice maneuverability for long-distance cruising performance. However, recent studies have revealed that blue whales actually exhibit surprisingly complex underwater behaviors, yet little is known about the performance and control of these maneuvers. Here, we use multi-sensor biologgers equipped with cameras to quantify the locomotor dynamics and the movement of the control surfaces used by foraging blue whales. Our results revealed that simple maneuvers (rolls, turns, and pitch changes) are performed using distinct combinations of control and power provided by the flippers, the flukes, and bending of the body, while complex trajectories are structured by combining sequences of simple maneuvers. Furthermore, blue whales improve their turning performance by using complex banked turns to take advantage of their substantial dorso-ventral flexibility. These results illustrate the important role body flexibility plays in enhancing control and performance of maneuvers, even in the largest of animals. The use of the body to supplement the performance of the hydrodynamically active surfaces may represent a new mechanism in the control of aquatic locomotion.

The evolution of foraging capacity and gigantism in cetaceans.

The extant diversity and rich fossil record of cetaceans provides an extraordinary evolutionary context for investigating the relationship between form, function and ecology. The transition from terrestrial to marine ecosystems is associated with a complex suite of morphological and physiological adaptations that were required for a fully aquatic mammalian life history. Two specific functional innovations that characterize the two great clades of cetaceans, echolocation in toothed whales (Odontoceti) and filter feeding in baleen whales (Mysticeti), provide a powerful comparative framework for integrative studies. Both clades exhibit gigantism in multiple species, but we posit that large body size may have evolved for different reasons and in response to different ecosystem conditions. Although these foraging adaptations have been studied using a combination of experimental and tagging studies, the precise functional drivers and consequences of morphological change within and among these lineages remain less understood. Future studies that focus at the interface of physiology, ecology and paleontology will help elucidate how cetaceans became the largest predators in aquatic ecosystems worldwide.

Using Digital Tags With Integrated Video and Inertial Sensors to Study Moving Morphology and Associated Function in Large Aquatic Vertebrates.

The anatomy of large cetaceans has been well documented, mostly through dissection of dead specimens. However, the difficulty of studying the world's largest animals in their natural environment means the functions of anatomical structures must be inferred. Recently, non-invasive tracking devices have been developed that measure body position and orientation, thereby enabling the detailed reconstruction of underwater trajectories. The addition of cameras to the whale-borne tags allows the sensor data to be matched with real-time observations of how whales use their morphological structures, such as flukes, flippers, feeding apparatuses, and blowholes for the physiological functions of locomotion, feeding, and breathing. Here, we describe a new tag design with integrated video and inertial sensors and how it can be used to provide insights to the function of whale anatomy. This technology has the potential to facilitate a wide range of discoveries and comparative studies, but many challenges remain to increase the resolution and applicability of the data. Anat Rec, 300:1935-1941, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

How Baleen Whales Feed: The Biomechanics of Engulfment and Filtration.

Baleen whales are gigantic obligate filter feeders that exploit aggregations of small-bodied prey in littoral, epipelagic, and mesopelagic ecosystems. At the extreme of maximum body size observed among mammals, baleen whales exhibit a unique combination of high overall energetic demands and low mass-specific metabolic rates. As a result, most baleen whale species have evolved filter-feeding mechanisms and foraging strategies that take advantage of seasonally abundant yet patchily and ephemerally distributed prey resources. New methodologies consisting of multi-sensor tags, active acoustic prey mapping, and hydrodynamic modeling have revolutionized our ability to study the physiology and ecology of baleen whale feeding mechanisms. Here, we review the current state of the field by exploring several hypotheses that aim to explain how baleen whales feed. Despite significant advances, major questions remain about the processes that underlie these extreme feeding mechanisms, which enabled the evolution of the largest animals of all time.

Prey-mediated behavioral responses of feeding blue whales in controlled sound exposure experiments.

Behavioral response studies provide significant insights into the nature, magnitude, and consequences of changes in animal behavior in response to some external stimulus. Controlled exposure experiments (CEEs) to study behavioral response have faced challenges in quantifying the importance of and interaction among individual variability, exposure conditions, and environmental covariates. To investigate these complex parameters relative to blue whale behavior and how it may change as a function of certain sounds, we deployed multi-sensor acoustic tags and conducted CEEs using simulated mid-frequency active sonar (MFAS) and pseudo-random noise (PRN) stimuli, while collecting synoptic, quantitative prey measures. In contrast to previous approaches that lacked such prey data, our integrated approach explained substantially more variance in blue whale dive behavioral responses to mid-frequency sounds (r2 = 0.725 vs. 0.14 previously). Results demonstrate that deep-feeding whales respond more clearly and strongly to CEEs than those in other behavioral states, but this was only evident with the increased explanatory power provided by incorporating prey density and distribution as contextual covariates. Including contextual variables increases the ability to characterize behavioral variability and empirically strengthens previous findings that deep-feeding blue whales respond significantly to mid-frequency sound exposure. However, our results are only based on a single behavioral state with a limited sample size, and this analytical framework should be applied broadly across behavioral states. The increased capability to describe and account for individual response variability by including environmental variables, such as prey, that drive foraging behavior underscores the importance of integrating these and other relevant contextual parameters in experimental designs. Our results suggest the need to measure and account for the ecological dynamics of predator-prey interactions when studying the effects of anthropogenic disturbance in feeding animals.

Discrimination of fast click-series produced by tagged Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) for echolocation or communication.

Early studies that categorized odontocete pulsed sounds had few means of discriminating signals used for biosonar-based foraging from those used for communication. This capability to identify the function of sounds is important for understanding and interpreting behavior; it is also essential for monitoring and mitigating potential disturbance from human activities. Archival tags were placed on free-ranging Grampus griseus to quantify and discriminate between pulsed sounds used for echolocation-based foraging and those used for communication. Two types of rapid click-series pulsed sounds, buzzes and burst pulses, were identified as produced by the tagged dolphins and classified using a Gaussian mixture model based on their duration, association with jerk (i.e. rapid change of acceleration) and temporal association with click trains. Buzzes followed regular echolocation clicks and coincided with a strong jerk signal from accelerometers on the tag. They consisted of series averaging 359±210 clicks (mean±s.d.) with an increasing repetition rate and relatively low amplitude. Burst pulses consisted of relatively short click series averaging 45±54 clicks with decreasing repetition rate and longer inter-click interval that were less likely to be associated with regular echolocation and the jerk signal. These results suggest that the longer, relatively lower amplitude, jerk-associated buzzes are used in this species to capture prey, mostly during the bottom phase of foraging dives, as seen in other odontocetes. In contrast, the shorter, isolated burst pulses that are generally emitted by the dolphins while at or near the surface are used outside of a direct, known foraging context.

Acoustic and foraging behavior of a Baird's beaked whale, Berardius bairdii, exposed to simulated sonar.

Beaked whales are hypothesized to be particularly sensitive to anthropogenic noise, based on previous strandings and limited experimental and observational data. However, few species have been studied in detail. We describe the underwater behavior of a Baird's beaked whale (Berardius bairdii) from the first deployment of a multi-sensor acoustic tag on this species. The animal exhibited shallow (23 ± 15 m max depth), intermediate (324 ± 49 m), and deep (1138 ± 243 m) dives. Echolocation clicks were produced with a mean inter-click interval of approximately 300 ms and peak frequency of 25 kHz. Two deep dives included presumed foraging behavior, with echolocation pulsed sounds (presumed prey capture attempts) associated with increased maneuvering, and sustained inverted swimming during the bottom phase of the dive. A controlled exposure to simulated mid-frequency active sonar (3.5-4 kHz) was conducted 4 hours after tag deployment, and within 3 minutes of exposure onset, the tagged whale increased swim speed and body movement, and continued to show unusual dive behavior for each of its next three dives, one of each type. These are the first data on the acoustic foraging behavior in this largest beaked whale species, and the first experimental demonstration of a response to simulated sonar.

Feeding rates and under-ice foraging strategies of the smallest lunge filter feeder, the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis).

Body size and feeding mode are two fundamental characteristics that determine foraging performance and ecological niche. As the smallest obligate lunge filter feeders, minke whales represent an ideal system for studying the physical and energetic limits of filter feeding in endotherms. We used multi-sensor suction cup tags to quantify the feeding performance of Antarctic minke whales. Foraging dives around and beneath sea ice contained up to 24 lunges per dive, the highest feeding rates for any lunge-feeding whale. Their small size allows minke whales access to krill in sea-ice environments not easily accessible to larger baleen whales. Furthermore, their ability to filter feed provides an advantage over other smaller sympatric krill predators such as penguins and seals that feed on individual prey. The unique combination of body size, feeding mechanism and sea-ice habitat of Antarctic minke whales defines a previously undocumented energetic niche that is unique among aquatic vertebrates.

Using accelerometers to determine the calling behavior of tagged baleen whales.

Low-frequency acoustic signals generated by baleen whales can propagate over vast distances, making the assignment of calls to specific individuals problematic. Here, we report the novel use of acoustic recording tags equipped with high-resolution accelerometers to detect vibrations from the surface of two tagged fin whales that directly match the timing of recorded acoustic signals. A tag deployed on a buoy in the vicinity of calling fin whales and a recording from a tag that had just fallen off a whale were able to detect calls acoustically but did not record corresponding accelerometer signals that were measured on calling individuals. Across the hundreds of calls measured on two tagged fin whales, the accelerometer response was generally anisotropic across all three axes, appeared to depend on tag placement and increased with the level of received sound. These data demonstrate that high-sample rate accelerometry can provide important insights into the acoustic behavior of baleen whales that communicate at low frequencies. This method helps identify vocalizing whales, which in turn enables the quantification of call rates, a fundamental component of models used to estimate baleen whale abundance and distribution from passive acoustic monitoring.