Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T17:01:51.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Occurrence of Cuvier's beaked whales in the southern Adriatic Sea: evidence of an important Mediterranean habitat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2007

Draško Holcer
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Kastel 24, HR-51551 Veli Losinj, Croatia
Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara
Affiliation:
Tethys Research Institute, Viale G.B. Gadio 2, IT-20121 Milano, Italy
Caterina Maria Fortuna
Affiliation:
Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Kastel 24, HR-51551 Veli Losinj, Croatia
Bojan Lazar
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, Kastel 24, HR-51551 Veli Losinj, Croatia
Vlado Onofri
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ecology and Aquaculture, Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Damjana Jude 12, HR-20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia

Abstract

The intent of this work is to summarize the available knowledge on the appearance, identification and distribution of Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) in the Adriatic Sea through a review of historical data, inspection of natural history collections and collection of original data. In total, eleven occurrences are documented of Cuvier's beaked whale along the Adriatic coast with all records originating from the deep southern Adriatic basin. The number of recorded stranded Cuvier's beaked whales in the southern Adriatic represents about 3% of the recorded specimens in the entire Mediterranean. This percentage increases up to about 5% when considering only data collected after the first recorded stranding of the recent era in 1975. Comparing these percentages to the extent of the area relative to the Mediterranean, the proportion of occurrence of the total stranded Cuvier's beaked whales in the southern Adriatic ranged between the same to double of that of the entire Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, the southern Adriatic Sea should be considered as a potentially relevant habitat of the Cuvier's beaked whale. This hypothesis has clear conservation implications particularly in view of the adverse impact of sonar experiments, carried out by navies from several countries, on this species and should be further investigated. Finally, there is no evidence of the northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) ever having occurred in this part of the Mediterranean region.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2007 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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.)