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Mass stranding of pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) in the British Virgin Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2000

Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni ,
Gian M. Toyos-González ,
Janice Pérez-Padilla ,
Marta A. Rodríguez-López  and
Julie Overing
Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Mamíferos Marinos del Caribe, Departamento de Ciencias y Tecnología, Universidad Metropolitana, SUAGM, PO Box 21150 San Juan, 00928-1150, Puerto Rico
Gian M. Toyos-González
Affiliation:
Escuela de Asuntos Ambientales, Universidad Metropolitana, SUAGM, PO Box 21150 San Juan, 00928-1150, Puerto Rico
Janice Pérez-Padilla
Affiliation:
Red Caribeña de Varamientos, Caribbean Stranding Network, PO Box 361715 San Juan, 00936-1715, Puerto Rico
Marta A. Rodríguez-López
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Mamíferos Marinos del Caribe, Departamento de Ciencias y Tecnología, Universidad Metropolitana, SUAGM, PO Box 21150 San Juan, 00928-1150, Puerto Rico
Julie Overing
Affiliation:
PO Box 962, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands
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Abstract

The pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) is an offshore, tropical and subtropical delphinid found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The species has only recently been studied, mostly from specimens collected from strandings. While over 52 reports exist for the Atlantic Ocean, only one record exists for the Caribbean Sea. A new record of a mass stranding of pygmy killer whales from the British Virgin Islands is documented and the pathology and life history of the specimens is described, associating the stranding process with the meteorological and oceanographic disturbance of Hurricane Marilyn, which devastated the Virgin Islands a day prior to the stranding. This stranding event constitutes the sixth known mass stranding for the species worldwide, the first record for pygmy killer whales for the northeastern Caribbean and the second for the entire Caribbean Sea.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 80 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 383 - 384
Copyright
© 2000 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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