Short communications First record of a vagrant Commerson’s dolphin, Cephalorhynchus commersonii, at the southern African continental shelf

• Main Authors: P. J. N. De Bruyn, G. J. G. Hofmeyr, M. S. De Villiers
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Indian Ocean (Goodall 1994). The distribution of; Antarctic; Indian; Kerguelen; Kerguelen Islands; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.545.4666; http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu/pdf/de Bruyn_Commersons.pdf

are distributed in two disjunct populations, one around southern South America and the other around the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands. These popula-tions have been shown to be morphologically and genetically distinct and movement between the two populations is unlikely. We report on the sighting of a single specimen over the South African continental shelf on 13 November 2004. To our knowledge this is the first record of this species in South African waters and such a vast distance (over 4000 km) from the known distribution limits. Key words: Cephalorhynchus commersonii, vagrant, distribution, South Africa.