COMMON DOLPHIN (Delphinus delphis): Western North Atlantic Stock

• Main Authors: Stock Definition, Geographic Range
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2000
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.295.346; http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/sars/ao2000doco-wn.pdf

The common dolphin may be one of the most widely distributed species of cetaceans, as it is found world-wide in temperate, tropical, and subtropical seas. In the North Atlantic, common dolphins appears to be present along the coast over the continental shelf along the 200-300 m isobaths or over prominent und erwater topograp hy from 50 ° N to 40°S latitude (Ev ans 1994). The sp ecies is less com mon so uth of Cape Hatteras, although schools have been reported as far south as eastern Florida (Gaskin 1992). At least some of the reported sightings of common dolphins in the Gu lf of Mexico may have been Stenella clymene, which has a color pattern similar to that of common dolphins (Evans 1994). Information regarding common dolphin stock structure in the western North Atlantic does not exist. However, a high variance in skull morphometric measurements suggests the existence of more than a single stock (J. G. Mead, pers. comm.). Common dolphins are distributed along the continental slope (100 to 2,000 m eters), and are associated with