MELON-HEADED WHALE (Peponocephala electra): Western North Atlantic Stock
The melon-headed whale is distributed worldwide in tropical to sub-tropical waters (Jefferson et al. 1994). Melonheaded whales are assumed to be part of the cetacean fauna of the tropical western North Atlantic. The paucity of sightings is probably due to a naturally low number of groups compared to...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2005
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.227.9053 http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsc/publications/tm/tm194/pdfs/69.pdf |
| Summary: | The melon-headed whale is distributed worldwide in tropical to sub-tropical waters (Jefferson et al. 1994). Melonheaded whales are assumed to be part of the cetacean fauna of the tropical western North Atlantic. The paucity of sightings is probably due to a naturally low number of groups compared to other cetacean species. Sightings in the more extensively surveyed northern Gulf of Mexico occur in oceanic waters (Mullin et al. 1994; Mullin and Fulling, 2004). Sightings of melon-headed whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico were documented in all seasons during aerial surveys of the northern Gulf of Mexico between 1992 and 1998 (Hansen et al. 1996; Mullin and Hoggard 2000). The western North Atlantic population is provisionally being considered one stock for management purposes. Additional morphological, genetic and/or behavioral data are needed to provide further information on stock delineation. POPULATION SIZE The numbers of melon-headed whales off the U.S. or Canadian Atlantic coast are unknown, and seasonal abundance estimates are not available for this stock, since it was rarely seen in any surveys. A group of melon- headed whales was sighted during both a 1999 (20 whales) and 2002 (80 whales) vessel survey of the western North Atlantic off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina in waters>2500 m deep |
|---|