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Home , Beaked whale, List of cetaceans, Orcinus, Whale

seen in Galápagos

Item Type article

Authors Day, David

Download date 24/09/2021 07:43:38

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/23783 April1994 NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS

LIST OF CETACEANS SEEN IN GALÁPAGOS

By: David Day

This listis mainly basedon personal observations, musculus), a common to other a¡eas of the records from other qualified observers, and from eastern ropical and south Pacific. It was never re- collected specimens preserved in the islands. Only ported for the Galápagos until 1993 when they were fairly recently ( 10- 15 years) has there been more than sighted on four different occasions in western and a a casual interest in observations of ; thus, there southem Isabela and Fernandina Islands, within are anomalies in previous records, e.g. formerly the few miles from the coast. The southem bottlenose larger whales were nearly always identified as (Hyperoodon planifrons) could be a potential whales (B alaenopter a phy s alus),butrecently these candidate, as there are records from along the equa- are conectly identifred as Bryde's (8. edeni), or oc- tor. casionally Sei (8. borealis) whales. Tui de Roy, a The following list of 24 species should be regard- Galápagos resident and very experienced naturalist, ed as a minimum numberrather than a complete list. was uncertain of their identification for many years, My taxonomic organization follows Leatherwood and until she observed fin whales in Baja Califomia' She Reeves (1983). Abundance is classified as frequent has since corrected many previous identifications. (F), present (P), occasional (O), rare (R). Range is Another dilemma is with the common (Delphinus described as outer, normally in waters deeper than delphis) and stenellid ( spp.); in all 1000 fathoms (O), mid, waters between 1000 and my years here I have never seen a spinner (Stenella 100 fathoms deep (M), inner, waters less than 100 longirostris), but some people report them regularly. fathoms (I), all areas (A). When the other species leap, and gyrate their tails, as Note: This describes the normalrangefrompresent the striped (5. coeruleoalba) does, it looks like they knowledge, anddoes not mean that some species from are spinning. Spinners certainly are present in the deep water will not make incursions into shallower waters around the Islands. To differentiate between water, especially where deeper water is close to the these species at distance can be very difficult. coast. Two other species that are almost impossible to Other classification ma¡ks are: ? = lack of data, tell apart are the he aded (P ep o no c ep hal a e I e c - owing to the being shy or rare, or because of tra) andthe pygmy (Feresa attenuata). identification difficulties and ( ) = in range category The mesoplodont beaked whales are almost impossi- that they are occasionally seen there; in abundance ble to tell apart as well; for many species there is very category that they are probably more common than * little data, and new species have been described in the sightings suggest. = probable sighting just off NE last few years. coast of SanTaCruz Island. ** = and skeleton A demonstration of our limited knowledge at remains found in 1964 by members of the Galapagos of these creatures is that theF¡aser's (Lagen- International Scientifrc Project expedition, buried in odelp his hos ei), arelativ ely common tropical species, sand along the beach at Tortuga Bay, Santa Cruz Is- was not described to science until 1956. The most land. The skull is deposited in the collection of the recent case is that of the ( Califo¡nia Academy of Sciences (Orr 1965). NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS No.53

LIST OF CETACEANS SEEN IN GALÁPAGOS.

SCIENTIFIC NAME COMMON NAME ABUNDANCE RANGE

A. Suborder Mysticeti 1. Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale R M,O 2. Balaenoptera borealis R,? M,O 3. Balaenoptera edeni Bryde's whale F A 4. Balaenoptera acutorostata R ? 5. Megaptera novaeangliae o r, M (o)

B. Suborder Odontoceti 6. macrocephalus F o, (M) 7. breviceps R,? o, (M) 8. Kogia simus Dwa¡f Sperm whale o,? A 9. sp. Beaked whales* I0. Ziphíus cavirostris Cuvier's P M,O lI. Mesoplodon spp. Beaked whales o M,O 72. Peponocephala electa Melon headed whale R o, (D 13. Feresa ettenuata Pyg-y killer whale R o 14. crassidens P I, M, (O) 15. orca Killer whale P A 16. Globicephala mauorhynchus Short finned P A, (M, O) 17. Steno bredanensis Rough-toothed dolphin** 18. Lagenodelphis hosei Fraser's dolphin *, t"l o 19. Delphinus delphis F M,O 20. Tursiops truncatus F I, M, (O) 21. Grampus griseus Risso's dolphin P M,O 22. Stenella attenuata Panrropical P,R,? o 23. Stenella coeruleoalba Srriped dolphin P o 24. Stenella longirostris ,) o

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LITERATURE CITED

I gratefully acknowledges the help of many peo- Leatherwood, S., and R. Reeves. 1983. The Sierra ple, particularly Jaqueline Schonenwald, Steve Club Handbook of Whales andDolphins. Siera Leatherwood, Godfrey Merlin, Hal Whitehead, re- Club Books. San Francisco. search group members of the 'Siben' and 'Odyssey' Orr, R.T. 1965. The rough-toothed dolphin in the expeditions from Dr. 's Whale Conser- Galápagos Archipelago. Journal of Mammalogy vation Institute, in particular Daniel palacios, and 46(1):101. finally Howa¡d Snell. David Day, PuertoAyora,Isla Santa Cruz, Galápa- gos, Ecuador.