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Spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) and other cetaceans in Raja Ampat waters, West Papua

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2010

Philippe Borsa*
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, UR 227 ‘Biocomplexité des écosystèmes récifaux’, Centre IRD de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
Dharma Arif Nugroho
Affiliation:
Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, Ambon, South Maluku, Indonesia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: P. Borsa, Institute de Recherche pour le Développement, UR 227 ‘Biocomplexité des écosystèmes récifaux’, Centre IRD Montpellier, 911 avenue, Agropolis, PS2 34032 Montpellier, France email: philippe.borsa@ird.fr
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Abstract

Cetaceans were surveyed using ship transects across the seas of Raja Ampat (West Papua) in November and December 2007. Sighting effort reached 120 hours, over a total distance of 1561 km. The most common cetacean sighted was the spinner dolphin, Stenella longirostris (~0.238 individuals/km) most frequently in pods of 15–20 individuals, in relatively-shallow to deep waters (82–2310 m). All those spinner dolphins that were positively identified from photographs were of the pelagic form (S. l. longirostris). Other cetaceans sighted were the short-finned pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, Risso's dolphin, Grampus griseus, the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops sp., the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens and the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2010

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References

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