Evaluating Prey Availability for the Rice's Whale (<i>Balaenoptera ricei</i>) Based on Environmental DNA.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the foraging ecology of endangered marine mammals provides important information for their conservation yet remains challenging due to the elusive, underwater nature of their feeding habits. Here, we used environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding with two complementary 12S rRNA markers to characterize potential prey communities available to the critically endangered Rice's whale (Balaenoptera ricei) in its core habitat in the northeastern Gulf of America (formerly Gulf of Mexico). Water samples (N = 21) collected during a 2019 survey within Rice's whale feeding areas detected 99 unique fish species across 62 families, exceeding the diversity recorded by concurrent trawl surveys. The combined metabarcoding approach revealed 74 fish species not recorded in trawls, wh

SUBMITTER: Silliman K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12796833 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature