Technical Reports of the Institute of Cetacean Research (2017)

pp. 68–70

Technical Report-Note (not peer reviewed)

A summary of the genetic samples of large whales collected by theInstitute of Cetacean Research
Mutsuo Goto*, Mioko Taguchi and Hiroyuki Oikawa
Institute of Cetacean Research, Toyomi-cho 4–5, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104–0055, Japan*Contact e-mail: goto@cetacean.jp
Biological samples of whales for genetic analyses are collected through diﬀerent kinds of surveys conducted by
the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) as well as fromby-caught and stranded animals and from past commercial whaling samples. The objective of this note is to summarize the number of samples/data collected to date.
The sources of samples are the following:• Skin samples from whales taken under special permit
scientiﬁc whaling. See details in GOJ (2015; 2017).
• Skin samples obtained by biopsy sampling under
the non-lethal component of the special permit
scientiﬁc programs. See details in Mogoe et al.
(2017).
• Skin samples obtained by biopsy sampling during
dedicated sighting surveys (national and international). See details in Isoda et al. (2017) and Matsuoka et al. (2017).
• Skin and muscle samples obtained from by-caught
whales (such samples are provided to ICR from 1
July 2001 following a national-established protocol). See details in the link: http://www.jfa.maﬀ.
go.jp/j/whale/w_document/pdf/041012tsuuchi.
pdf.
• Skin and muscle samples obtained from stranded
whales. Systematic record and sampling fromstranding are conducted by ICR since 2004. See
details in the link: http://www.jfa.maﬀ.go.jp/j/whale/w_document/pdf/manyuaru2012kaisei.
pdf.
• Historical samples from past commercial andspecial permit scientiﬁc whaling (e.g., baleen andblood samples).
Table 1 summarizes the genetic samples available inICR, which were collected from the above describedsources. This data set is one of the largest and mostcomprehensive in the world. Samples are used mainly for
genetic analyses on population structure and phylogenyof baleen whales, and to a lesser extent, for analyses on
pollutants and feeding ecology.
Several genetic studies based on these samples have68

been presented to international meetings (e.g., Pasteneet al. 2016; Taguchi et al. 2017), and others have been
published in peer-reviewed journals (e.g., Pastene andGoto, 2016; Malde et al. 2017).
Samples and data in Table 1 are available for cooperative studies under established ICR protocol for data
access and collaboration. See details in the following link:
http://www.icrwhale.org/pdf/appendix2.pdf.

REFERENCES
Government of Japan. 2015. Research Plan for New Scientiﬁc
Whale Research Program in the Antarctic Ocean (NEWREP-A).
Circular Communication IWC.ALL.238, November 2015 (unpublished). 110 pp.
Government of Japan. 2017. Research Plan for New Scientiﬁc
Whale Research Program in the western North Paciﬁc(NEWREP-NP). Circular Communication IWC.ALL.295, June2017 (unpublished). 190 pp.
Isoda, T., Konishi, K., Yamaguchi, F., Kawabe, S., Moriyama, R.,
Kasai, H., Igarashi, Y., Mogoe, M. and Matsuoka, K. 2017.
Results of the NEWREP-A dedicated sighting survey during
the 2016/17 austral summer season. Paper SC/67a/ASI07
presented to the IWC Scientiﬁc Committee, May 2017 (unpublished). 27 pp.
Malde, K., Seliussen, B.B., Quintela, M., Dahle, G., Besnier, F.,Skaug, H.J., Øien, N., Solvang, H.K., Haug, H., Skern-Mauritzen,
R., Kanda, N., Pastene, L.A., Jonassen, I. and Glover, K.A. 2017.
Whole genome resequencing reveals diagnostic markers forinvestigating global migration and hybridization between
minke whale species. BMC Genomics 18: 76–86.
Matsuoka, K., Gilpatrick Jr. J.W., Kim, J.H. and Yoshimura, I.
2017. Cruise report of the 2016 IWC-Paciﬁc Ocean Whaleand Ecosystem Research (IWC-POWER). Paper SC/67a/ASI09
presented to the IWC Scientiﬁc Committee, May 2017 (unpublished). 28 pp.
Mogoe, T., Isoda, T., Yoshida, T., Nakai, K., Kanbayashi, J., Ono,K., Yoshimura, I., Ueda, Y., Mure, H., Ueta, E., Wada, A.,Eguchi, H. and Tamura, T. 2017. Results of the second biological ﬁeld survey of NEWREP-A during the 2016/17 australsummer season. Paper SC/67a/SCSP05 presented to the IWC
Scientiﬁc Committee, May 2017 (unpublished). 21 pp.
Pastene, L.A. and Goto, M. 2016. Genetic characterization andA summary of the genetic samples of large whales collected by the Institute of Cetacean Research

population genetic structure of the Antarctic minke whale
Balaenoptera bonaerensis in the Indo-Paciﬁc region of theSouthern Ocean. Fish Sci. 82: 873–886.
Pastene, L.A., Goto, M., Taguchi, M. and Kitakado, T. 2016.
Updated genetic analyses based on mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA indicated no sub-structure of the ʻOʼ stock common minke whale in the western North Paciﬁc. Paper SC/F16/
JR40 presented to the JARPNII special permit expert panel re-view workshop, Tokyo, February 2016 (unpublished). 14 pp.
Taguchi, M., Goto, M. and Pastene, L.A. 2017. A synthesis of thework conducted on stock structure of western North Paciﬁc
common minke whale in response to recommendations
from the IWC Scientiﬁc Committee. Paper SC/67a/SDDNA05
presented to the IWC Scientiﬁc Committee, May 2017 (unpublished). 5 pp.

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Common minke whale
Blue whale
Fin whale
Sei whale
Brydeʼs whale
Humpback whale
Right whale
Sperm whale
Killer whale

11,011 (9,777: 4,096)

Antarctic minke whale
Blue whale
Fin whale
Sei whale
Humpback whale
Southern right whale

56 (56: 56)

1,354 (1,354: 1,350)
730 (730: 727)

2,680 (2,672: 2,672)

18 (18: 18)

ASpecies

9 (5: 9)17 (0: 17)
10 (10: 10)
55 (55: 55)
87 (87: 87)
15 (9: 15)
8 (3: 8)20 (18: 20)
2 (0: 2)35 (0: 35)
54 (39: 42)
3 (3: 3)488 (483: 488)
73 (73: 73)

B

58 (58: 58)
9 (9: 9)14 (14: 14)

4 (0: 4)5 (5: 5)20 (20: 20)
40 (40: 40)

10 (0: 10)
16 (16: 16)

C

9 (0: 1)27 (2: 2)
82 (82: 82)
84 (84: 84)
1 (0: 0)115 (115: 113)
61 (61: 61)

D

1 (1: 1)63 (63: 63)
3 (2: 3)2 (2: 2)

11 (11: 11)

2,008 (1,980: 2,008)

——
—
—
—
—

E

18 (0: 18)
4 (0: 4)5 (3: 5)

—
—
—
—
—
—

F

5 (0: 5)303 (302: 303)323 (323: 287)G

1994–2016
2001–2015
1997–2016
1972–2016
1977–2016
1997–2016
1958–2016
2000–20102016

1987/88–2015/16
1994/95–2015/16
1998/99–2015/16
2000/2001
1993/94–2015/16
1993/94–2015/16

Period

A: Samples from recent special permit scientiﬁc whaling. Tissue samples collected before the 2011 tsunami in Japan are not available. B: Biopsy samples obtained from sighting/sampling vessels of the surveys under recent special permit scientiﬁc whaling. C: Biopsy samples obtained from Japanese dedicated sighting surveys (conducted under or outside the special permit scientiﬁcwhaling). D: Biopsy samples obtained from international dedicated sighting surveys e.g., IWC IDCR/SOWER in the Antarctic and IWC POWER in the North Paciﬁc. E: Samples from by-catches.
Tissue samples collected before the 2011 tsunami in Japan are not available. F: Samples from stranding. G: Historical samples from past commercial whaling in the North Paciﬁc (sei whale); past
special permit scientiﬁc whaling in the North Paciﬁc (right whales); past commercial whaling in the western North Paciﬁc and eastern South Paciﬁc, and past special permit scientiﬁc whalingin other oceanic basins (Brydeʼs whale).

North Paciﬁc

AntarcticTable 1
Number of genetic samples of several cetacean species available at the ICR. The numbers on the left and right sides in parenthesis indicate the available microsatellite and mtDNA data, respectively.

Technical Reports of the Institute of Cetacean Research (2017)