STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE
There has been speculation, based on year-round occurrence of strandings, opportunistic sightings, and whaling catches, that sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico may constitute a distinct stock (Schmidly 1981). Recent research supports distinct stock status for the Gulf of Mexico. Genetic analysis of...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2003
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.228.9349 http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/nefsc/publications/tm/tm182/pdfs/125.pdf |
| Summary: | There has been speculation, based on year-round occurrence of strandings, opportunistic sightings, and whaling catches, that sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico may constitute a distinct stock (Schmidly 1981). Recent research supports distinct stock status for the Gulf of Mexico. Genetic analysis of skin biopsies from 89 Gulf sperm whales indicates that of four mtDNA haplotypes found in the Gulf, two are unique to the Gulf on a global scale (D. Engelhaupt, pers. comm.; Mullin et al. 2003). A satellite-tagged sperm whale tracked for 137 days in 2001, remained in the Gulf of Mexico the entire time (Mate 2002). Results of photo-identification studies showed that four sperm whales identified in 1994 were sighted in 2001 at distances between resightings of 26.4 to 111.8 km (C. Cates, pers. comm.; Mullin et al. 2003). The Gulf of Mexico population is provisionally being considered a separate stock for management purposes. Additional morphological, genetic and/or behavioral data are needed to provide further information on stock delineation. |
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