42 
Wm. David Webster et al. 
Stranding data can provide a wealth of biological information 
about marine mammals (Geraci and St. Aubin 1979). Although the 
cetacean fauna (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) of North Carolina 
is relatively well known (Caldwell and Golley 1965, Caldwell and 
Caldwell 1974, Winn et al. 1979, Schmidly 1981, Lee et al. 1983), 
there has been no attempt to use the state’s stranding records to address 
the seasonal or distributional ecology of this important component 
of the marine environment. The purposes of this investigation, therefore, 
were to describe seasonal periodicity in cetacean strandings in North 
Carolina and to relate these trends to the zoogeographic significance 
of North Carolina with regard to the cetacean fauna of the western 
North Atlantic Ocean. 
METHODS 
Cetacean stranding data from North Carolina (Schmidly 1981, 
and references cited therein; Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletins 
1975-1982; J. G. Mead, United States National Museum, personal 
communication) were compiled by month for each species. These references 
provided a continuous account of strandings reported from the late- 
1800s through 1990; however, most of the records have been accumulated 
during the last 20 years after the Marine Mammal Stranding Network 
was established. Stranding records did not always distinguish between 
live and dead animals, so both were included in our analysis. It was 
not possible to verify identifications of all specimens associated with 
these records, especially those of Globicephala and Stenella reported 
in the Scientific Event Alert Network Bulletins and species of small 
cetaceans reported in newspapers, because voucher material was some- 
times not collected (Mead 1977, 1979; Schmidly 1981). Therefore, 
records were omitted if doubts existed about their veracity. Temporal 
data were examined statistically (Chi-square) to test the hypothesis 
that each species exhibited no significant ( P < 0.05) monthly variation 
in stranding, although sample sizes were small for some species. 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Eight hundred and seventy-two stranding records were available 
for 26 speices of whales, dolphins, and porpoises (Table 1), nine of 
which exhibit significant monthly variation in their stranding records. 
Although the bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus (Montagu)) strands 
in all months of the year, it strands significantly more often in winter 
and spring. Stranding records for the fin whale ( Balaenoptera physalus 
(Linnaeus)) and harbor porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena (Linnaeus)) display 
