List of faculty members

KURODA, Mika Associate Professor

Research Contents

I conduct research on stranded cetaceans in Hokkaido, using information and specimens obtained from these events. I am particularly interested in the mechanisms underlying the production of echolocation sounds in small odontocetes. I also plan to further develop educational and outreach activities based on stranded cetaceans, as well as research on the processes involved in these initiatives.

Attractive Factors of My Research

Living organisms do not speak, but their bodies speak to us in many ways. Whether the valuable information conveyed by their bodies can be preserved, fully utilized, and passed on to future generations as a shared heritage of humanity depends on each of us who engage with specimens. In this responsibility, I find a strong sense of mission and the profound appeal of this field.

Major Books and Papers

• Preliminary insights into the mechanisms of narrow‐band high‐frequency sounds: Vestibular sac development and neonatal pulsed sounds in East Asian finless porpoises. Terada T, Furuyama A, Funasaka N, Wakabayashi I, Kuroda M. Marine Mammal Science, e70058, 2025.
• Proposal of discrimination criteria using acoustic observation data of Japanese sand lance Ammodytes personatus in Sendai Bay. Tatsuyama K, Kuroda M, Minami K, Shirakawa H, Tamura T, Zhu Y, Miyashita K. Fisheries Science, 1-9, 2025.
• Identification of fishing gear entangled around the tail of a stranded sperm whale. Tomiyasu M, Takenaka Y, Kuroda M, Matsuda AT, Matsuishi TF, Fujimori Y. Japan Cetology, 35, 19-24, 2025.
• Northernmost record of the ginkgo-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens). Bachara W, Kuroda M, Nishida S, Ishikawa H, Matsuishi TF. Aquatic Mammals, 49(4), 356-365, 2023.
• Determinants of echolocation click frequency characteristics in small toothed whales: recent advances from anatomical information. Kuroda M, Miki N, Matsuishi TF. Mammal Review, 50, 413-425, 2020.
• Click emission in Dall’s porpoise Phocoenoides dalli, focusing on physical properties of tissues. Kuroda M, Sasaki M, Yamada K, Miki N, Matsuishi T. PLoS ONE, 13(9), e0202426, 2018.
• Tissue physical property of the harbor porpoise Phocoena phocoena for investigation of the sound emission process. Kuroda M, Sasaki M, Yamada K, Miki N, Matsuishi T. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 138, 1451-1456, 2015.