Mullin et al.: Cetaceans of the north-central Gulf of Mexico 



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Figure 2 



The locations of sightings of each cetacean species or species group in the Gulf of Mexico for the entire study (July 

 1989-June 1990). 



records from the Gulf. The first at-sea identifications 

 of Bryde's whale, pygmy and dwarf sperm whales, 

 spinner dolphins, and Cuvier's beaked whales in the 

 Gulf were recorded during this study. Prior to this 

 study, species with five or fewer herd-sighting records 

 (nonstranding) from the Gulf included pantropical 

 spotted dolphin, clymene dolphin, Risso's dolphin, 

 killer whale, false killer whale, rough-toothed dol- 

 phin, fin whale, pygmy killer whale, melon-headed 

 whale, and Mesoplodon spp. (Schmidly, 1981; 

 Jennings, 1982; Fritts et al., 1983; Rademacher 2 ). 

 Sperm whales were hunted commercially in the Gulf 



until the early 1900's (Townsend, 1935) but were re- 

 cently thought to be rare (Lowery, 1974). However, 

 our data and the 17 Gulf sperm whale sightings re- 

 ported by Collum and Fritts ( 1985) indicate they may 

 be more abundant than previously thought. Species 

 known from the Gulf that could be distinguished from 

 aircraft, but were not identified during our surveys, 

 included the northern right whale, Eubalaena 

 glacialis, the blue whale, B. musculus, the minke 

 whale, B. acutorostrata, the humpback whale, Meg- 

 aptera novaeangliae, and the Fraser's dolphin, Lag- 

 enodelphis hosei. 



