Records of kogiid whales in Namibia, including the first record of the dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima)

Dwarf (Kogia sima) and pygmy (K. breviceps) sperm whales occur in pelagic waters around southern Africa. Here we report the first record of K. sima from Namibia and provide information on the basic morphometrics and diet of that record and of two recent strandings of K. breviceps. All known records...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine biodiversity records Vol. 6
Main Authors: Elwen, S.H., Gridley, T., Roux, J-P., Best, P.B., Smale, M.J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 2013
Subjects:
Aquatic mammals
Crustaceans
Marine biology
Taxonomy
Whales
Whales & whaling
dwarf sperm whale
Kogia breviceps
Namibia
Kogia sima
pygmy sperm whale
stomach contents
new range state record
diet
ISSN:1755-2672, 1755-2672
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Dwarf (Kogia sima) and pygmy (K. breviceps) sperm whales occur in pelagic waters around southern Africa. Here we report the first record of K. sima from Namibia and provide information on the basic morphometrics and diet of that record and of two recent strandings of K. breviceps. All known records (N = 29) of K. breviceps from Namibia are also collated. Eight families of cephalopod were identified in the stomach contents of the K. sima but no fish remains and few crustacean parts were present. Nine and ten families of cephalopod were identified in the stomachs of the two K. breviceps specimens respectively. This report expands the known range of K. sima by more than 1000 km from previous published records in the region. The sparsely populated nature of the Namibian coast and bias of records towards centres of human habitation suggest Kogia strandings are under reported. The low number of stranded specimens of K. sima from Namibia and west South Africa, in comparison to K. breviceps suggests that K. sima occur rarely or at very low densities in the area influenced by the Benguela current ecosystem. Specimens from Namibia are valuable due to uncertainties about taxomony of kogiids in the region.
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ISSN:1755-2672
1755-2672
DOI:10.1017/S1755267213000213