STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.174.6111; http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/publications/tm/tm201/pdfs/264-266.pdf

The Clymene dolphin is endemic to tropical and sub-tropical waters of the Atlantic (Jefferson and Curry 2003). Clymene dolphins have been commonly sighted in the Gulf of Mexico since 1990 (Mullin et al. 1994; Fertl et al. 2003), and a Gulf of Mexico stock has been designated since 1995. Four Clymene dolphin groups were sighted during summer 1998 in the western North Atlantic (Mullin and Fulling 2003), and two groups were sighted in the same general area during a 1999 bottlenose dolphin survey (NMFS unpublished). These sightings and stranding records (Fertl et al. 2003) indicate that this species routinely occurs in the western North Atlantic. The western North Atlantic population is provisionally being considered a separate stock for management purposes, although there is currently no information to differentiate this stock from the northern Gulf of Mexico stock(s). Additional morphological, genetic and/or behavioral data are needed to provide further information on stock delineation. POPULATION SIZE The numbers of Clymene dolphins off the U.S. or Canadian Atlantic coast are unknown, and seasonal abundance estimates are not available for this species since it was rarely seen in any surveys. Clymene dolphins were observed during earlier surveys along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Estimates of abundance were derived through the application of distance sampling