Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:20:52.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sightings of the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Trindade Island, Brazil, South Atlantic Ocean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2011

Mateus Souza de Carvalho
Affiliation:
Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Avenida do Farol, s/n, Praia do Forte, Mata de São João, Bahia, Brazil, 48280-971
Marcos R. Rossi-Santos*
Affiliation:
Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Avenida do Farol, s/n, Praia do Forte, Mata de São João, Bahia, Brazil, 48280-971
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.R. Rossi-Santos, Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Avenida do Farol s/n, Praia do Forte Mata de São João Bahia, Brazil, 48280-971 email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The present work brings information about the first sightings of the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, in the oceanic island of Trindade, 1140 km off the Brazilian coast. Nine days of opportunistic boat surveys were performed between December 2009 and March 2010, totalling 54 hours of sampling effort. Three sightings were obtained of the bottlenose dolphin, varying from 1 single animal to a group with 10 dolphins, including calves. One group was observed and filmed underwater. Sighting depth varied from 5 to 35 m and distance from the coast was registered between 70 to 300 m. Comparing our results with other studies in the Brazilian oceanic islands shows similarities in the location of the sightings as well the reported group size and the presence of calves suggesting that bottlenose dolphins may be using these environments to socialize and take care of the young dolphins. Because the oceanic islands constitute fragile and isolated ecosystems it is crucial to have a better understanding of the conservation of their marine life, including top predator animals such as the bottlenose dolphins.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2011

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

Almeida, F.F.M., Carneiro, C.D.R. and Mizusaki, A.M.P. (1996) Correlação do magmatismo das bacias da margem continental brasileira com os das áreas emersas adjacentes. Revista Brasileira de Geologia 26, 125139.Google Scholar
Alves, R.J.V. (1998) Ilha da Trindade e Arquipélago Martin Vaz—um ensaio geobotânico. Rio de Janeiro: Serviço de Documentação da Marinha, 143 pp.Google Scholar
Alves, R.J.V. and Castro, J.W.A. (2006) Ilhas oceânicas Brasileiras—da pesquisa ao manejo. Brasilia: Ministério do Meio Ambiente, Secretaria de Biodiversidade e Florestas, 298 pp.Google Scholar
Baracho, C.G, Cipolotti, S., Marcovaldi, E., Rossi-Santos, M.R., Silva, M.B. and Apolinário, M. (2005) Viabilidade de estudos de foto e vídeo-identificação de cetáceos oceânicos na Rebio Atol das Rocas. Workshop ‘Ilhas oceânicas Brasileiras—pesquisa ao manejo’, Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional (UFRJ).Google Scholar
Baracho, C.G., Cipolotti, S., Marcovaldi, E., Apolinário, M. and Silva, M.B. (2007) The occurrence of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the biological reserve of Atol das Rocas in north-eastern Brazil. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (2)—Biodiversity Records. Available at: http://www.mba.ac.uk/jmba/jmba2biodiversityrecords.php?5792Google Scholar
Caon, G. and Ott, P.H. (2000) Ocorrência e fotoidentificação do golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa (Tursiops truncatus) em água oceânicas brasileiras no Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo. In Resumenes: 9a Reunion de trabajo de especialistas en mamíferos acuaticos de América del Sur, Buenos Aires, 2000. Buenos Aires: Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernadino Rivadavia’, p. 20.Google Scholar
Caon, G. and Ott, P.H. (2004) Populações oceânicas de golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa (Tursiops truncatus): fotoidentificação e fidelidade no Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo, nordeste do Brasil. In Resumenes: 11a Reunion de trabajo de especialistas en mamíferos acuaticos de América del Sur, Ecuador, 2002. Puce, Ecuador: Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, p. 44.Google Scholar
Castro, J.W.A. and Antonello, L.L. (2006) Geologia das ilhas oceânicas brasileiras. In Alves, R.J.V. and Castro, J.W.A. (eds) Ilhas oceânicas Brasileiras: da pesquisa ao manejo. Brasília: Ministério do Meio Ambiente, pp. 2957.Google Scholar
Dalla Rosa, L. (1998) New information on the occurrence of small cetaceans off southern Brazil. In Resumo: 8a Reunião de trabalho de especialistas em mamíferos aquáticos da América do Sul, Olinda, 1998, p. 60.Google Scholar
IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis) (2001) Mamíferos aquáticos do Brasil: plano de ação. Versão 2, 2a ed. Brasília: Edições IBAMA.Google Scholar
Lehner, P.N. (1996) Handbook of ethological methods. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lodi, L., Wedekin, L.L., Rossi-Santos, M.R. and Marcondes, M.C. (2008) Movements of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the Rio de Janeiro State, southeastern Brazil. Biota Neotropica 8, 205209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marcovaldi, M.A. and Marcovaldi, G.G.D. (1999) Marine turtles of Brazil: the history and structure of Projeto Tamar—Ibama. Biological Conservation 91, 3541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mohr, L.V. (2009). Ilhas oceânicas brasileiras: da pesquisa ao manejo—volume II. Brasília: MMA/Secretaria de Biodiversidade e Florestas, 280 pp.Google Scholar
Moreno, I.B., Ott, P.H., Tavares, M., Oliveira, L.R., Danilewicz, D., Siciliano, S. and Bonnato, S. (2009) Os Cetáceos com ênfase no golfinho-nariz-de-garrafa, Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821). In Viana, D.L., Hazin, F.H.V. and Souza, M.A.C. (eds) O Arquipélago de São Pedro e São Paulo: 10 anos de Estação Científica. Brasília: DF: SECIRM.Google Scholar
Rossi-Santos, M., Wedekin, L.L. and Sousa-Lima, R.S. (2006) Distribution and habitat use of small cetaceans off Abrolhos Bank, eastern Brazil. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals 5, 2328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skaf, M.K. and Secchi, E. (1994) Avistagens de cetáceos na travessia do Atlântico: Santos-Tenerife. In Reunião de trabalho de especialistas em mamíferos aquáticos da América do Sul. Resumos, 6 a. Florianópolis, p. 72.Google Scholar
Siciliano, S. and Franco, S.M.S. (2005) Catálogo da coleção de mamíferos aquáticos do Museu Nacional. Rio de Janeiro: FIOCRUZ:ENSP, 44 pp.Google Scholar
Silva, J.M. Jr, Silva, F.J.L. and Sazima, I. (2005) Rest, nurture, sex, release, and play: diurnal underwater behaviour of the spinner dolphin at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic. Aqua: Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 9, 161176.Google Scholar
Silva, J.M. Jr, Silva, F.J.L., Sazima, C. and Sazima, I. (2007) Trophic relationships of the spinner dolphin at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic. Scientia Marina 71, 505511.Google Scholar
Simões-Lopes, P.C. and Fabián, M.E. (1999) Residence patterns and site fidelity in bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus (Montagu) (Cetacea, Delphinidae) off southern Brazil. Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 16, 10171024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, B.L. (1990) Geochemistry of highly-undersaturated ocean island basalt suites from the South Atlantic Ocean: Fernando de Noronha and Trindade islands. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 105, 502515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, R.S. and Scott, M.D. (2009) Common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus. In Perrin, W.F., Würsig, B. and Thewissen, J.G.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of marine mammals. 2nd edition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 249255.CrossRefGoogle Scholar