Frasier's Dolphin -- Cetacean Info at Whale Songs

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Lagenodelphis hosei

DISCOVERED: Frasier, 1956

COMMON NAME: Frasier's dolphin, from the Greek lagenos for "bottle" and delphis for "dolphin"

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION:

* Tropical distribution- Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Indian Oceans off South Africa, Japan, Taiwan, Eastern Australia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka
* Pantropical distribution between 40 degrees N and 40 degrees S
* Common in Camotes Sea and the southern end of Bohol Strait, Phillippines
* Eastern tropical Pacific along the equator between 110 and 145 degrees W

DESCRIPTION:

* Stocky build
* Small fin
* Short beak
* Tiny flippers
* dorsal fin (triangular)
* Bluish gray on back and white on belly
* Longitudinal side striping pattern
* Cream band starts along eye to anus
* Parallel black band
* Dark appendages
* Light gray stripe connects gape of mouth to anterior insertion of flipper

NATURAL HISTORY:

HABITAT:

* Groups of one hundred to one thousand
* Occasionally mix with spotted dolphins, false killer whales, striped dolphins, and spinner dolphins
* Mainly offshore-rarely inshore, except around oceanic islands and in areas with a narrow continental shelf

FOOD & FEEDING:

* Mesopelagic fishes
* Squid, crustaceans and deep sea fish, octopus, and krill
* Captured at night when they rise to the surface
* Hunting at depths of at least 250-500m

LIFE CYCLE:

* Reproductive biology unknown
* Foetus size-45-95cm long; birth length usually less than 1m

BEHAVIOR:

* Aggressive swimming style
* Frequently in large groups
* Often mix with schools of pelagic toothed whales and dolphins
* Shy of boats
* Active at the surface but don't seem

WORLD POPULATION:

* Maximum of 136,000 in eastern tropical Pacific

HUMAN INFLUENCES:

* Local harpoon fisheries
* Gillnet fisheries
* Tuna purse-seine fisheries
* Drive fishery in Taiwan



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