Because the 1983-89 aged sample was probably not an unbiased sample, the age 

 structure of this sample most likely does not accurately reflect that of the animals stranded 

 during 1983-89. Therefore, the results of the age structure comparison between 1983-89 and 

 1990 should be considered inconclusive. Since there is no indication that the length samples 

 were biased, they can be used for a gross comparison of age structure. The 1983-89 and 1990 

 length samples were significantly different, and indicate that proportionally fewer younger 

 animals and more older animals stranded during 1990 than during 1983-89. A yearly 

 comparison of lengths demonstrates that the proportion of stranded animals < 140cm has 

 been decreasing since 1986 (see Section II, Figure 8). 



Literature Cited 



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Hersh, S.L. 1988. Age class distribution of bottlenose dolphins stranded during the east coast 

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Hohn, A.A., M.D. Scott, R.S. Wells, J.C. Sweeney and A.B. Irvine. 1989. Growth layers in 

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Myrick, A.C., Jr., A.A. Hohn, TA.. Sloan, M. Kimura and D.D. Stanley. 1983. Estimating age 

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