Results
Distribution of Gervais' Beaked Whales:
There was only one confirmed oppotunistic sighting of a Gervais' beaked whales recorded over the four field seasons of effort of the leeward coast of Domincia. Beaked whales are notoriously difficult to identify. In general, its difficult to tell females apart for all 14 species. The Gervais' beaked whale is among the least distnct species making it particularly difficult to identify in the field. It is quite possible that both of the unidentified beaked whale sightings were of this species as the Cuvier's and Blainvilles' beaked whales (the other two species that have been documented in the Wider Caribbean Region) are relatively distinct in comparison. Figure 10, below, identifies the location and distribution of all beaked whale sightings across all four field seasons. Interestingly, all five of the beaked whale sightings are at the south end of the island.
For distributions for other species, click on species of interest: sperm whale , pantropical spotted dolphin , Fraser's dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, false killer whale, humpback whale, short-finned pilot whale, melon-headed whale, Cuvier's beaked whale, striped dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, and the distribution of unidentified sightings.
Figure 10 - All beaked whale sightings 2005-2008
Continue to Results: Cetacean Diversity