Macalester College marine mammal sightings around Grenada, West Indies 1999

Aldemaro Romero

doi:10.15468/yv38hr

Macalester College marine mammal sightings around Grenada, West Indies 1999

Citation

Romero A, OBIS-SEAMAP (2021). Macalester College marine mammal sightings around Grenada, West Indies 1999. OBIS-SEAMAP. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/yv38hr accessed via GBIF.org on 2024-12-11.

Description

Original provider: Aldemaro Romero, Macalester College Dataset credits: Aldemaro Romero, Macalester College Abstract: To document the Grenadian marine mammal fauna and its distribution in the eastern Caribbean, we conducted field and archival studies in that country. All records of sirenians and cetaceans for Grenada were assembled and analyzed. The total number of confirmed marine mammal species for this part of the world is 11. The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was the most commonly reported mysticete species while a variety of odontocetes seem to be equally frequent in those waters. The manatee (Trichechus manatus) has been extinct from those waters for at least 300 years. Comparison with the marine mammal fauna of adjacent regions (Venezuela, Trinidad, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines), leads us to believe that at least seven additional species of cetaceans may be present in Grenadian waters, probably as occasional visitors. Purpose: There are three indications that the marine mammal fauna of Grenada may be much more abundant and diverse than ever reported. Therefore, we decided to investigate the nature of the marine mammal fauna for that country. To that end, we combined information for three major sources: data from published or unpublished (archival) documents, accounts from reliable observers, and our own field observations. As a result, we have been able to increase the number of confirmed records from three to 11. Supplemental information: Sightings from the field observations are a subset of the entire dataset, presented here on OBIS-SEAMAP.
For records that did not have time of observation available, "00:00:00" was used and noted in the [Notes] field.
For records that originally sighted a range for the number of individuals observed, the median number was used to be conservative, and noted in the [Notes] field.

Purpose

There are three indications that the marine mammal fauna of Grenada may be much more abundant and diverse than ever reported. Therefore, we decided to investigate the nature of the marine mammal fauna for that country. To that end, we combined information for three major sources: data from published or unpublished (archival) documents, accounts from reliable observers, and our own field observations. As a result, we have been able to increase the number of confirmed records from three to 11.

Sampling Description

Study Extent

NA

Sampling

NA

Method steps

NA

Additional info

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Taxonomic Coverages

Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Globicephala macrorhynchus
common name: Short-finned Pilot Whale rank: species
Physeter macrocephalus
common name: Sperm Whale rank: species
Stenella longirostris
common name: Spinner Dolphin rank: species
Tursiops truncatus
common name: Common Bottlenose Dolphin rank: species

Geographic Coverages

Oceans

Bibliographic Citations

Contacts

Aldemaro Romero
originator
position: Primary contact
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
email: aromero@siue.edu
homepage: http://www.aromerojr.net/index.html

OBIS-SEAMAP
metadata author
Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University
A328 LSRC building
Durham
27708
NC
US
email: seamap-contact@duke.edu
homepage: http://seamap.env.duke.edu

OBIS-SEAMAP
distributor
Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University
A328 LSRC building
Durham
27708
NC
US
email: seamap-contact@duke.edu
homepage: http://seamap.env.duke.edu

Aldemaro Romero
owner
position: Primary contact
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
email: aromero@siue.edu
homepage: http://www.aromerojr.net/index.html

Aldemaro Romero
administrative point of contact
position: Primary contact
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
email: aromero@siue.edu
homepage: http://www.aromerojr.net/index.html