Overview
- Peer-reviewed research in the Journal of Experimental Biology estimates an average of about 140 squid per whale per day, or roughly 74,000 per whale annually.
- Scaling by an estimated 8,000 whales in Hawaiian waters, the population consumes about 88,000 tons of squid per year, with some coverage translating that to roughly hundreds of millions of squid.
- Scientists combined short-duration suction-cup tags with cameras and hydrophones, satellite tracking, drone-based body measurements, and stranded-whale stomach contents to derive feeding rates and energy needs.
- Eight tagged whales were recorded making 118 deep dives, reaching depths reported up to about 2,836 meters and averaging roughly 39 dives per day.
- Authors report squid are currently an abundant, reliable prey source for these whales, while noting uncertainty from the small tagged sample and assumptions used to scale population-wide demand.