Cetaceans sighted off the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand, Summer 1970

Records are presented of sightings of 6 cetacean species (15 common dolphins, Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, over 5000 dusky dolphins, Lagenorhynchus obscurus (Gray), approximately 74 bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus (Montagu), 8 sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 6 southern humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski), and 36 southern pilot whales. Globicephala melaena edwardii (Smith)) from m.v. Lloret Lopez II between 8 January and 2 April 1970. A large school of dusky dolphins was observed south of Solander Island. Monthly water temperatures in the summer of 1970 were high and in January ranged from 15.4°c (9.2 km west of Fiordland) and 21.6°c (55 km west of Cape Farewell), in February from 16.2°c (Fiordland) and 20.4°c (Cape Farewell), and in March from 16.0°c (Fiordland) and 20.5°c (Cape Farewell).

Citation: Webb B F (2020): Cetaceans sighted off the west coast of the South Island, New Zealand, Summer 1970. v1.0. Southwestern Pacific Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) Node. Dataset/Occurrence. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nzwhalesnote1970&v=1.0

Published: August 26, 2020 at 18:22

URL: https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=nzwhalesnote1970