Marine Mammals of the World

Abstract

Price not available.With an ever-increasing number of people including wildlife watching in their yearly activities this volume will serve a vital function in providing the layman, and mammalogists with a means for identification of marine mammals. While there are good field guides for limited geographic areas, the present guide provides a single comprehensive guide covering all of the world's marine mammals, including whales, porpoises, dolphins, seals, otters, and polar bears. This book is designed for this purpose, and achieves its goal.The book is divided into seven main chapters or sections, preceded by abstract, preface, and acknowledgments. The introductory section is devoted to general remarks on oceanography and distribution of marine mammals, identification and how to use the key, species codes of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and a superbly illustrated glossary of technical terms used throughout the volume.Keys for both external and cranial features are well illustrated. Seventy-eight extant species of Cetacea divided into two suborders (Mysticeti and Odontoceti), cover some 162 pages (pp. 40-202) of text. The main body of the text consists of species accounts. A typical species account is two pages long and includes names used by the FAO in English, French. and Spanish. along with sections on distinctive characteristics, size, geographic distribution, ecology, behavior, and remarks on species that could be confused with the species being discussed. This is followed by remarks on exploitation and status listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources when known. The section on geographic distribution is supplemented with a distribution map for each species covered in the text. Each species is provided with dichromatic-lateral-view illustrations, along with dorsal. ventral, and lateral views of the skull.The second order covered is a to-page chapter on the four known species of sirenians, followed by a 82-page review of the order Carnivora, divided into the suborder Pinnipedia, with some 34 species of pinnipeds assigned to three families, the Otariidae (sea lions and fur seals) with 14 species recognized, the Odobenidae with one extant species, the walrus, and Phocidae (true seals) with 19 species. The remaining six-page section covers the sea otter, marine otter, and polar bear. What makes this book even more spectacular is that the authors also included the four species of cetaceans, two seals, and one sirenian that are found only in fresh water.In the section on Carnivora, Platanista gangetiea and P. minor are considered distinct species, although considerable controversy questions this distinction. The sperm whale is referred to Physeter catodon, although P. macrocephalu.s is cited under other scientific names still being used. Otaria hyronia is used for the South American sea lion, although O. jfavescens also is currently being used (Nowak, 1991; Wilson and Reeder, 1993).Following the species accounts there is a table consisting ...

Dos décadas de avistamientos del elefante marino del sur en Ecuador: recomendaciones para el manejo de pinnípedos vagabundos

“…El elefante marino del sur (Mirounga leonina (Linnaeus, 1758)) es la especie de fócido más grande del mundo (Jefferson et al, 2005(Jefferson et al, , 1993Le Boeuf y Laws, 1994); posee una distribución circumpolar y sus colonias se concentran en las islas subantárticas; entre ellas, principalmente tres colonias para reproducción, concentradas en Georgia del Sur, en el océano Atlántico; Heard e islas Kerguelen, en el sur del océano Indico; y las islas Macquarie, al sur del océano Pacífico (Ling y Bryden, 1992). Adicionalmente, existen pequeñas poblaciones reproductoras en la península Valdés, en el océano Atlántico, y en el sur de Chile (Acevedo et al, 2016;Campagna y Lewis, 1992).…”

“…Un macho adulto puede llegar a tener una longitud aproximada de cinco metros y puede pesar tres toneladas; la piel del cuello es engrosada con arrugas y cicatrices; la hembra es más pequeña, puede medir tres metros de largo y pesar de 500 a 600 kg (Lewis y Campagna, 2019;Moscoso, 2019). En este pinnípedo existe un dimorfismo sexual marcado (Jefferson et al, 1993).…”

Exposure and behavioral responses of tagged beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) to ships in the Pacific Arctic

“…Belugas generally are gregarious, traveling in pods ranging from a few individuals to hundreds of whales (Jefferson et al, 1993), and are considered to be highly sensitive and vulnerable to ecosystem change (Hauser et al, 2018). In the Pacific Arctic, belugas are an important traditional food source for Inuvialuit and Iňupiat subsistence hunters (Frost & Suydam, 2010;Harwood & Smith, 2002).…”

Total and subcellular Ti distribution and detoxification processes in Pontoporia blainvillei and Steno bredanensis dolphins from Southeastern Brazil

“…This species is non-migrant and experiences several threats, including entanglement in fishing gear, impacts resulting from oil and gas drilling, shipping lanes, aquatic resource harvesting and human recreational activities, pollution and climate change and severe weather, leading to habitat shifts and alterations (Zerbini et al, 2018). Franciscana dolphins usually feeds on shallow-water fish and crustaceans, feeding regularly on shrimp when young and tending to eat higher amounts of small teleost fish (up to about 10 cm) and squid when adult (Walley et al, 1995). The roughtoothed dolphin S. bredanensis, on the other hand, displays a still poorly understood distribution and population, inhabiting the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean, mainly in deep offshore waters beyond the continental shelf, although they are known to inhabit coastal waters in Brazil (Cardoso et al, 2019;Gannier and West, 2005).…”

“…The roughtoothed dolphin S. bredanensis, on the other hand, displays a still poorly understood distribution and population, inhabiting the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean, mainly in deep offshore waters beyond the continental shelf, although they are known to inhabit coastal waters in Brazil (Cardoso et al, 2019;Gannier and West, 2005). Threats to this species include habitat degradation, chemical and noise pollution, and entanglement in fishing gear (Walley et al, 1995). This species feeds mainly on squid, octopuses and large teleost fish (Zerbini et al, 2018).…”