Expedition records no blue whales near the Galapagos for nine months — Live Science
In the waters near Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, a scientific expedition did not record a single blue whale for nine months. From October 2025 to July 2026, researchers surveyed areas of the archipelago where these animals had previously been observed and planned to fit them with satellite tags. As Live Science reports, the team was unable to tag a single animal during the entire expedition.
Warm waters as a possible barrier
The absence of whales coincided with unusually warm ocean conditions during El Niño. Sea surface temperatures reached 28°C, while at a depth of 100 meters the water warmed to 18.9–19.4°C — about 5°C above the usual levels for this time of year.
Expedition leader Daniela Alarcón suggested that blue whales may have remained farther south, in cooler and more productive waters with more food. Among the possible areas where they could be found, she named waters near Peru and remote parts of the ocean where the animals are harder to spot. In her view, abnormally warm waters around the archipelago may have become a temperature barrier for the whales.
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Searching for food
Blue whales can consume up to 5.5 tonnes of krill a day. Researchers have not yet determined whether El Niño caused a decline in krill numbers near the Galapagos, but they found indirect signs of changing feeding conditions. Previous expeditions indicated that whales usually feed in water layers with temperatures of about 22°C, which this season lay at a depth of around 92 meters.
At the same time, the highest concentrations of chlorophyll — an indirect indicator of the amount of phytoplankton on which krill feed — were recorded much closer to the surface, at depths of 12 to 37 meters. This may indicate a mismatch between the feeding layer usually used by whales and the location of their potential food base, although krill numbers were not measured directly.
Marine biologist Fernando Félix noted that similar changes had already been recorded in the southeastern Pacific during the 1982–1983 El Niño: blue whales, fin whales and Bryde’s whales then shifted southward. He believes the current absence of blue whales near the Galapagos is more likely to reflect a change in their routes than a mass die-off of the animals.
