Studies on the Little Toothed Whales in the West Sea Area of Kyusyu―I About Tursiops sp. caught at Matuura City, Nagasaki pref.

• Main Authors: 水江, 一弘, 吉田, 主基
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: Japanese
• Published: 長崎大学水産学部 1960
• Subjects: toothed whales
• Online Access: https://nagasaki-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/8971/files/suisan09_033.pdf

A large number of Tursiops sp. were caught in Tobi-Island of Matuura City in Northern part of Nagasaki Pref. This Tursiops sp. is different from T. truncatus and T. gillii which had been reported in Japan by this time from the view-point of the body color of the head, namely there is no striped dark design in the shape of the anchor at the front of the rear of the head. About the external proportion of body, the head part is smaller, the portion of the waist and tail is longer than the Tursiops spp. which had been reported in Japan. About the skull proportion, the ratio of skull and mandible to body leogth is smaller, ratio of snout to skull length is larger, and it has special characters in the measurement of the every part of skull. On the tooth, the number of teeth in this Tursiops sp. shows the special character too. Moreover, the number of bertebrae in this Tarsiops sp. is different from five Tarsiops spp. which had been reported. From these point, it seems that this Tarsiops sp. is new species. 長崎大学水産学部研究報告, v.9, pp.33-41; 1960 departmental bulletin paper