Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T12:30:01.976Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A stranded pygmy killer whale on the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2010

Jailson Fulgencio de Moura ,
Bruna Pagliani S. di Dario ,
Luciano Moreira Lima  and
Salvatore Siciliano
Jailson Fulgencio de Moura*
Affiliation:
PPG em Saúde Pública e Meio Ambiente, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública/FIOCRUZ Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Marinhos da Região dos Lagos–Projeto Aves, Quelônios e Mamíferos Marinhos na Bacia de Campos–CENPES/PETROBRAS and ENSP/FIOCRUZ–Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública—FIOCRUZ, Departado de Endemias, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480–6 andar, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210Brazil
Bruna Pagliani S. di Dario
Affiliation:
Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Marinhos da Região dos Lagos–Projeto Aves, Quelônios e Mamíferos Marinhos na Bacia de Campos–CENPES/PETROBRAS and ENSP/FIOCRUZ–Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública—FIOCRUZ, Departado de Endemias, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480–6 andar, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210Brazil
Luciano Moreira Lima
Affiliation:
Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Marinhos da Região dos Lagos–Projeto Aves, Quelônios e Mamíferos Marinhos na Bacia de Campos–CENPES/PETROBRAS and ENSP/FIOCRUZ–Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública—FIOCRUZ, Departado de Endemias, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480–6 andar, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210Brazil
Salvatore Siciliano
Affiliation:
Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Marinhos da Região dos Lagos–Projeto Aves, Quelônios e Mamíferos Marinhos na Bacia de Campos–CENPES/PETROBRAS and ENSP/FIOCRUZ–Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública—FIOCRUZ, Departado de Endemias, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões, 1480–6 andar, Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: J.F. de Moura, PPG em Saúde Pública e Meio Ambiente, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública/FIOCRUZ email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) is a small cetacean that can be found worldwide in offshore tropical and warm temperate waters. Most information about F. attenuata has been attributed to stranded or accidentally caught specimens and rarely through observation of free-ranging individuals. There is very little information about this cetacean in South Atlantic waters. In Brazil, only two confirmed strandings and four sightings have been published up to date. In this study we present the third confirmed stranding of the pygmy killer whale on the Brazilian coast. The current and previous records of Brazilian specimens suggest that F. attenuata may eventually use the continental shelf to feed and rest, principally in some areas of the Brazilian waters where this oceanographic feature is narrow.

Keywords

Feresa attenuatapygmy killer whaleBrazilian coaststrandingRio de Janeiro State
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 3 , June 2010 , e11
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aguilar-Aguilar, R. and Moreno-Navarrete, G. (2002) Presencia de nemátodos del género Anisakis en una orca pigmea Feresa attenuata (Cetacea: Delphinidae) varada en costas de Veracruz, México. Anales del Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología 73, 239–240.Google Scholar
Bermúdez-Villapol, L.A., Sayegh, A.J., Esteves, M.A., Rangel, M.S., Rosso, C. and Vera, N.I. (2006) Notes on the pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata Gray, 1874 (Cetacea: Delphinidae) in Venezuela, southeastern Caribbean. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals 5, 135–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Best, P.B. (1970) Records of the pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata, from Southern Africa, with notes on behavior in captivity. Annals of the South African Museum 57, 1–14.Google Scholar
Bolaños, J. and Villarroel-Marin, A. (2003) Three new records of cetacean species for Venezuelan waters. Caribbean Journal of Science 39, 230–232.Google Scholar
Cadenat, J. (1958) Notes sur les delphinidés quest-Africaines II. Un spécimen du genre Feresa capturé sur les côtes Du Sénégal. Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire 20 (Serie A), 1486–1491.Google Scholar
Delgado-Estrella, A. and Villa, R.B. (1998) First records of dwarf sperm whale (Kogia breviceps), pygmy sperm whale (K. simus) and pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) in Veracruz, Mexico. Anales del Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Serie Zoología 69, 129–134.Google Scholar
Forrester, D.J., Odell, D.K., Thompson, N.P. and White, J.R. (1980) Morphometrics, parasites and chlorinated hydrocarbon residues of pygmy killer whales from Florida. Journal of Mammalogy 61, 356–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geraci, J.R. & Lounsbury, V.J. (2005) Marine mammals ashore—a field guide for strandings, 2nd edition. Baltimore, MD: National Aquarium in Baltimore Press.Google Scholar
Jefferson, T., Webber, M. and Pitman, R. (2008) Marine mammals of the world: a comprehensive guide to their identification. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Leatherwood, S., Reeves, R., Perrin, W.F. and Evans, W.E. (1988) Whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the eastern North Pacific and adjacent Arctic waters. A guide to their identification. New York: Dover Publications.Google Scholar
Lichter, A.A., Fraga, F. and Castello, H.P. (1990) First record of the pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata, in the Southwest Atlantic. Marine Mammal Science 6, 85–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magalhães, F.A., Garri, R.G., Tosi, C.H., Siciliano, S., Chellappa, S. and Silva, F.J.L. (2007). First confirmed record of Feresa attenuata (Delphinidae) for the northern Brazilian coast. Biota Neotropica 7, 313–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McSweeney, D.J., Baird, R.W., Mahaffy, S.D., Webster, D.L. and Schorr, G.S. (2008) Site fidelity and association patterns of a rare species: pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) in the main Hawaiian Islands. Marine Mammal Science. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2008.00267.xGoogle Scholar
Mignucci-Giannoni, A.A., Toyos-González, G.M., Pérez-Padilla, J., Rodríguez-López, M.A. and Overing, J. (1999) Mass stranding of pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) in the British Virgin Islands. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 80, 759–760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishiwaki, M., Kasuya, T., Kamya, T., Tobayama, T. and Nakajima, M. (1965) Feresa attenuata captured at the Pacific coast of Japan in 1963. Scientific Reports of the Whales Research Institute, Tokyo 19, 65–90.Google Scholar
Rinaldi, C., Rinaldi, R. and Sahagian, P. (2006) Report of surveys conducted on small cetaceans off Guadeloupe 1988 to 2005. Scientific Committee at the 58th IWC annual meeting, June 2006, St Kitts & Nevis, Caribbean, Paper SC/58/SM17.Google Scholar
Rodríguez-López, M.A. and Mignucci-Giannoni, A.A. (1999) A stranded pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) in Puerto Rico. Aquatic Mammals 25, 119–121.Google Scholar
Ross, G.J.B. (1984) The smaller cetaceans of the south east coast of southern Africa. Annals of the Cape Provincial Museums (Natural History) 15, 173–410.Google Scholar
Ross, G.J.B. and Leatherwood, S. (1994) Pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata (Gray, 1874). In Ridway, S.H. and Harrison, R. (eds) Handbook of marine mammals. Volume 5: the first book of dolphins. London: Academic Press, pp. 387–404.Google Scholar
Rossi-Santos, M., Baracho, C., Neto, E.S. and Marcovaldi, E. (2008) First sightings of the pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata, for the Brazilian coast. Marine Biodiversity Records 1, 1–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siciliano, S., Moreno, I.B., Demari e Silva, E. and Alves, V.C. (2006) Baleias, botos e golfinhos na Bacia de Campos. Série Guias de Campo: fauna marinha da Bacia de Campos. Rio de Janeiro: Ed. ESNP/FIOCRUZ.Google Scholar
Siciliano, S., Moreno, I.B. and Silva, E. (2008) Early sightings of the pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) off the Brazilian coast: a correction to Rossi-Santos et al. (2006). Marine Biodiversity Records 1, 1–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, A.D., Williams, R. and Brereton, T. (2002) The sighting of pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) in the southern Bay of Biscay and their association with cetacean calves. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 82, 509–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zerbini, A.N. and Santos, M.C.O. (1997) First record of the pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata (Gray, 1874) for the Brazilian coast. Aquatic Mammals 23, 105–109.Google Scholar