Fraser's dolphin

Last updated

Fraser's dolphin
Fraser s group.jpg.jpeg
Fraser's dolphin size.svg
Size compared to an average human
CITES Appendix II (CITES) [2]
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Delphinidae
Subfamily: Delphininae
Genus: Lagenodelphis
Fraser, 1956
Species:
L. hosei
Binomial name
Lagenodelphis hosei
Fraser, 1956 [3]
Cetacea range map Fraser'sDolphin.png
Fraser's dolphin range

Fraser's dolphin or the Sarawak dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei) is a cetacean in the family Delphinidae found in deep waters in the Pacific Ocean and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Contents

Taxonomy

Lagenodelphis hosei is species of the delphinid family, distinguished from other dolphins as a monotypic genus, Lagenodelphis. [4]

In 1895, Charles E. Hose found a skull on a beach in Sarawak, Borneo. He donated it to the British Museum. The skull remained unstudied until 1956 when Francis Fraser [3] [5] examined it and concluded that it was similar to species in both the genera Lagenorhynchus and Delphinus but not the same as either. A new genus was created by simply merging these two names together. The specific name is given in Hose's honour.

It wasn't until 1971 that the whole body of a Fraser's dolphin, as it was by then becoming known, was discovered. At that time washed-up specimens were found on Cocos Island in the eastern Pacific, in South Australia and in South Africa.

Description

Fraser's dolphins are about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) long and 20 kg (44 lb) weight at birth, growing to 2.75 m (9 ft 0 in) and 200 kg (440 lb) by adulthood. They have a stocky build, a small fin in relation to the size of the body, as well as conspicuously small flippers. The dorsal fin and beak are also shorter than other species of dolphin. The upper side is a gray-blue to gray-brown. A dirty cream-colored line runs along the flanks from the beak, above the eye, to the anus. There is a dark stripe under this line. The belly and throat are usually white, sometimes tinged pink. The lack of a prominent beak is a distinguishing characteristic of this dolphin. From a distance, however, it may be confused with the striped dolphin, which has a similar coloration and is found in the same regions.

Fraser's dolphins swim quickly in large, tightly-packed groups, numbering anywhere from 100 to 1,000 in number. Often porpoising, the groups chop up the water tremendously. The sight of seeing a large group fleeing from a fishing vessel has been reported as "very dramatic".

It is also unique in having the smallest genitalia of any open sea dolphin.

The species feeds on pelagic fish, squid and shrimp found some distance below the surface of the water (200 m/660 ft to 500 m/1,600 ft). Virtually no sunlight penetrates this depth, so feeding is carried out using echolocation alone.

Population and distribution

Dolphin in waters in Papua New Guinea Bluewater Cruising.jpg
Dolphin in waters in Papua New Guinea

Though only accounted for relatively recently, the number of reported sightings has become substantial — indicating that the species may not be as rare as thought as recently as the 1980s. However the species is still not nearly as well understood as its more coastal cousins. No global population estimates exist.

The dolphin is normally sighted in deep tropical waters; between 30°S and 20°N. The Eastern Pacific is the most reliable site for viewings. Groups of stranded dolphins have been found as far afield as France and Uruguay. However these are regarded as anomalous and possibly due to unusual oceanographic conditions, such as El Niño.

The species is also relatively common in the Gulf of Mexico but less so in the rest of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Philippines is particularly known area for dolphin sightings, and is home to one of the larger populations of the Fraser's dolphin in the world.

Conservation

The Southeast Asian populations of Fraser's dolphins are listed on Appendix II [6] of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), since they have an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements. [7]

In addition, Fraser's dolphin is covered by Memorandum of Understanding for the Conservation of Cetaceans and Their Habitats in the Pacific Islands Region (Pacific Cetaceans MoU) [8] and the Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Conservation of the Manatee and Small Cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia (Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU). [9]

See also

Footnotes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">White-beaked dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The white-beaked dolphin is a marine mammal belonging to the family Delphinidae in the suborder Odontoceti.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Pacific finless porpoise</span> Species of porpoise

    The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise is one of eight porpoise species. The species ranges throughout most of the Indian Ocean, as well as the tropical and subtropical Pacific from Indonesia north to the Taiwan Strait. Overlapping with this species in the Taiwan Strait and replacing it northwards is the East Asian finless porpoise.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Strap-toothed whale</span> Species of whale

    The strap-toothed beaked whale, also known as Layard's beaked whale, is one of the largest members of the mesoplodont family, growing to 6.2 m (20 ft) in length and reaching up to 1,300 kg (2,900 lb). The common and scientific name was given in honor of Edgar Leopold Layard, the curator of the South African Museum, who prepared drawings of a skull and sent them to the British taxonomist John Edward Gray, who described the species in 1865.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">True's beaked whale</span> Species of mammal

    True's beaked whale is a medium-sized whale in the genus Mesoplodon. It is native to the northern Atlantic Ocean. The common name is in reference to Frederick W. True, a curator at the United States National Museum.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Irrawaddy dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The Irrawaddy dolphin is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the Australian snubfin dolphin, which was not described as a separate species until 2005. It has a slate blue to a slate gray color. Although found in much of the riverine and marine zones of South and Southeast Asia, the only concentrated lagoon populations are found in Chilika Lake in Odisha, India and Songkhla Lake in southern Thailand.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Common dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The common dolphin is the most abundant cetacean in the world, with a global population of about six million. Despite this fact and its vernacular name, the common dolphin is not thought of as the archetypal dolphin, with that distinction belonging to the bottlenose dolphin due to its popular appearances in aquaria and the media. However, the common dolphin is often depicted in Ancient Greek and Roman art and culture, most notably in a mural painted by the Greek Minoan civilization.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Harbour porpoise</span> Species of mammal

    The harbour porpoise is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers. This porpoise often ventures up rivers, and has been seen hundreds of kilometres from the sea. The harbour porpoise may be polytypic, with geographically distinct populations representing distinct races: P. p. phocoena in the North Atlantic and West Africa, P. p. relicta in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, an unnamed population in the northwestern Pacific and P. p. vomerina in the northeastern Pacific.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Burmeister's porpoise</span> Species of marine mammal

    Burmeister's porpoise is a species of porpoise endemic to the coast of South America. It was first described by Hermann Burmeister, for whom the species is named, in 1865. Locally it is known as marsopa espinosa and chancho marino.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Humpback dolphin</span> Genus of mammals

    Humpback dolphins are members of the genus Sousa. These dolphins are characterized by the conspicuous humps and elongated dorsal fins found on the backs of adults of the species. They are found close to shore along the coast of West Africa and right along the coast of the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia. Several institutions have made a proposal to divide the Indo-Pacific species into two distinct species: the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and the Australian humpback dolphin.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Peale's dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    Peale's dolphin is a small dolphin found in the waters around Tierra del Fuego at the foot of South America. It is also commonly known as the black-chinned dolphin or even Peale's black-chinned dolphin. However, since Rice's work Peale's dolphin has been adopted as the standard common name.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantropical spotted dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The pantropical spotted dolphin is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The species was beginning to come under threat due to the killing of millions of individuals in tuna purse seines. In the 1980s, the rise of "dolphin-friendly" tuna capture methods saved millions of the species in the eastern Pacific Ocean and it is now one of the most abundant dolphin species in the world.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Spinner dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The spinner dolphin is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. It is famous for its acrobatic displays in which it rotates around its longitudinal axis as it leaps through the air. It is a member of the family Delphinidae of toothed whales.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Clymene dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The Clymene dolphin, in older texts known as the short-snouted spinner dolphin, is a dolphin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean. It is the only confirmed case of hybrid speciation in marine mammals, descending from the spinner dolphin and the striped dolphin.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Striped dolphin</span> Species of mammal

    The striped dolphin is an extensively studied dolphin found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans. It is a member of the oceanic dolphin family, Delphinidae.

    References

    1. Kiszka, J.; Braulik, G. (2018). "Lagenodelphis hosei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2018: e.T11140A50360282. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T11140A50360282.en . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
    2. "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
    3. 1 2 Lagenodelphis hosei Fraser, F.C. 1956. A new Sarawak dolphin. Sarawak Museum Journal 7(8, ns): 478-503 [478].
    4. Hershkovitz, P. (1966). "Catalog of living whales". Bulletin of the United States National Museum (246): viii 1-259 [60]. doi:10.5479/si.03629236.246.
    5. Marshall, N. B. (1979). "Francis Charles Fraser. 16 June 1903-21 October 1978". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society . 25: 287–317. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1979.0010. S2CID   71184662.
    6. "Appendix II Archived 11 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine " of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). As amended by the Conference of the Parties in 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2008. Effective: 5 March 2009.
    7. "Convention on Migratory Species page on the Fraser's dolphin". Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2011.
    8. Pacific Cetaceans MoU
    9. Western African Aquatic Mammals MoU

    Further reading