Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T12:09:09.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Early sightings of the pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) off the Brazilian coast: a correction to Rossi-Santos et al. (2006)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2009

Salvatore Siciliano ,
Ignacio B. Moreno  and
Érico Demari e Silva
Salvatore Siciliano*
Affiliation:
Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Marinhos da Região dos Lagos (GEMM-Lagos), Departamento de Endemias, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública/FIOCRUZ, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões n. 1480-térreo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210, Brazil
Ignacio B. Moreno
Affiliation:
Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio Grande do Sul (GEMARS), Rua Felipe Neri 382 conj. 203, Porto Alegre, RS 90440-140 and Centro de Estudos Costeiros, Limnológicos e Marinhos (CECLIMAR/UFRGS), Av.Tramandaí n. 976, Imbé, RS 95625-000, Brazil
Érico Demari e Silva
Affiliation:
Rua Leticiano Jesus Costa n. 481, Tupã, SP 17605-100, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Salvatore Siciliano, Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Marinhos da Região dos Lagos (GEMM-Lagos), Departamento de Endemias, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública/FIOCRUZ, Rua Leopoldo Bulhões n. 1480-térreo, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210, Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata Gray, 1874 can be found worldwide in deep tropical and warm temperate waters remaining one of the least known species of small cetacean. In the tropical and temperate Atlantic, F. attenuata has been recorded from south-east United States, Veracruz, Mexico, the Bay of Biscay, Sénégal, the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. A stranding record for Argentina may be considered a vagrant. In Brazil, only two confirmed stranding records are published and sightings are rare. We here report on two early confirmed sightings of pygmy killer whales, Feresa attenuata off the Brazilian coast previous to the report of Rossi-Santos et al. (2006). Pygmy killer whales could use the edge of the continental shelf occasionally for resting or feeding, such as several other pelagic species do frequently. In conclusion, F. attenuata is known to occur off the Brazilian coast, in deep tropical waters, and may visit the continental slope occasionally for feeding and resting.

Keywords

pygmy killer whaleFeresa attenuatadistributionsouth-western Atlanticsightings records
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 1 , January 2008 , e78
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2007

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, + 9 pls.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 Ouest-africains II. Un spécimen du genre Feresa capturé sur les côtes du Sénégal. Dakar, Sénégal: Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire, Tome XX, série A, no. 4.Google Scholar
Caldwell, D.K. and Caldwell, M.C. (1971) The pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata, in the western Atlantic, with a summary of world records. Journal of Mammalogy 52, 206–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cetacean Specialist Group (1996) Feresa attenuata. In IUCN 2006. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 26 July 2007..+Downloaded+on+26+July+2007.>Google Scholar
Chantrapornsyl, S. (1996) The first record of a pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata) from Thailand. Phuket Marine Biological Center Research Bulletin 61, 29–37.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
Félix, F., Haase, B. and Samaniego, J. (1995) First record of pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata (Cetacea, Delphinidae) and dwarf sperm whale, Kogia simus (Cetacea, Physeteridae) on the Ecuadorean Continental coast. Estudios Oceanológicos 14, 77–85.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
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., Chellapa, S. and Silva, J.L. (2007) First confirmed record of Feresa attenuata (Delphinidae) for the Northern Brazilian Coast. Biota Neotropica 7, no. 2, May/Aug 2007. http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v7n2/en/abstract?article+bn03407022007CrossRefGoogle 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
Moreno, I.B., Zerbini, A.N., Danilewicz, D., Santos, M.C.D., Simões-Lopes, P.C., Lailson-Brito, J. and Azevedo, A.F. (2005) Distribution and habitat characteristics of dolphins of the genus Stenella (Cetacea: Delphinidae) in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series 300, 229–240.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
Perrin, W.F. and Hubbs, C.L. (1969) Observations on a young pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata Gray) from the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 15, 297–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pryor, T., Pryor, K. and Norris, K.S. (1965) Observations on a pygmy killer whale (Feresa attenuata Gray) from Hawaii. Journal of Mammalogy 46, 450–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rinaldi, C., Rinaldi, R. and Sahagian, P. (2006) Report of surveys conducted on small cetaceans off Guadeloupe 1988 to 2005. Paper SC/58/SM17 presented to the Scientific Committee at the 58th IWC annual meeting, June 2006, St Kitts & Nevis, Caribbean.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 SirHarrison, Richard (eds) Handbook of marine mammals. Vol. 5: the first book of dolphins. London: Academic Press, pp. 387–404.Google Scholar
Rossi-Santos, M., Baracho, C.B., Santos Neto, E. and Marcovaldi, E. (2006) First sightings of the pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata, for the Brazilian coast. JMBA2—Biodiversity Records. Available on-line at http://www.mba.ac.uk/jmba/jmba2biodiversityrecords.phpGoogle Scholar
Siciliano, S. (2001) Uma abordagem biogeográfica dos cetáceos da costa brasileira. PhD thesis, Programa de Pós graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia), Museu Nacional/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.Google Scholar
Siciliano, S., Alves, V.C., Lima, N.R.E., Colosio, A.C. and Sousa e Silva, J. Jr (2005) Ampliação do conhecimento e novas perspectivas de estudos sobre os mamíferos aquáticos da costa amazônica, Page 144 In Anais do Primeiro Congresso Internacional do Piatam: ambiente, homem, gás e petróleo. Rivas, A.A.F. (Coord. Geral). Manaus, 2005.Google 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. Editora ENSP/FIOCRUZ. p. 99.Google Scholar
Siciliano, S., Zerbini, A.N., Andriolo, A., Rocha, J.M., Moreno, I.M.B. and Lucena, A. (2000) Comunidades de cetáceos do Atlântico Oeste Tropical: uma análise georreferenciada da distribuição e uso dos ambientes. In 9 Reunión de Trabajo de Especialistas en Mamíferos Acuáticos de América del Sur, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Resúmenes de la 9 Reunión de Trabajo de Especialistas en Mamíferos Acuáticos de América del Sur. pp. 119–120.Google Scholar
Van Waerebeek, K. and Reyes, J.C. (1988) First record of the pygmy killer whale, Feresa attenuata Gray, 1875 from Peru, with a summary of distribution in the eastern Pacific. Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 53, 253–255.Google 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., da Rocha, J.M., Andriolo, A., Siciliano, S., Moreno, I.B., Lucena, A., Simões-Lopes, P.C. and Pizzorno, J.L. (2000) An outline of the cetacean sighting surveys conducted off the Northeastern Brazilian coast with the preliminary abundance estimation of minke whales. Paper SC/52/IA18 presented to the Scientific Committee at the 52nd IWC annual meetingJune 2000Adelaide, Australia.Google 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