ArticlePloS one2014
The world's most isolated and distinct whale population? Humpback whales of the Arabian Sea.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mitogenomic and Ecological Perspectives on the Wide-Ridged Indo-Pacific Finless PorpoiseEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- The future of baleen whales: Recoveries, environmental constraints, and climate change.Science advances · 2025Review
- Wild fauna in Oman: Current situation and perspectives, with particular interest to turtles and ungulates.Open veterinary journal · 2025Article
- Do beluga whales truly migrate? Testing a key trait of the classical migration syndrome.Movement ecology · 2023Article
- Tattoo Skin Disease in Cetacea: A Review, with New Cases for the Northeast Pacific.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Global cultural evolutionary model of humpback whale song.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Long-term isolation at a low effective population size greatly reduced genetic diversity in Gulf of California fin whales.Scientific reports · 2019Article
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- Population genetics of four heavily exploited shark species around the Arabian Peninsula.Ecology and evolution · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A clear understanding of population structure is essential for assessing conservation status and implementing management strategies. A small, non-migratory population of humpback whales in the Arabian Sea is classified as "Endangered" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, an assessment constrained by a lack of data, including limited understanding of its relationship to other populations. We analysed 11 microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA sequences extracted from 67 Arabian Sea humpback whale tissue samples and compared them to equivalent datasets from the Southern Hemisphere and North Pacific. Results show that the Arabian Sea population is highly distinct; estimates of gene flow and divergence times suggest a Southern Indian Ocean origin but indicate that it has been isolated for approximately 70,000 years, remarkable for a species that is typically highly migratory. Genetic diversity values are significantly lower than those obtained for Southern Hemisphere populations and signatures of ancient and recent genetic bottlenecks were identified. Our findings suggest this is the world's most isolated humpback whale population, which, when combined with low population abundance estimates and anthropogenic threats, raises concern for its survival. We recommend an amendment of the status of the population to "Critically Endangered" on the IUCN Red List.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.