Abstract
A total of six individuals of S.chinensis were observed near the Jakhau creek, which is the western part of Gulf of Kachchh. The GPS location of the sighting is 23°14’28.5” N and 68°35’54.0" E. The dolphins were spotted in the mid-high tide time on 03 December 2014 at 9.53 hrs (IST). These dolphins were found less than 10 m away from the shore at a depth of 1-10 m. The dolphins were observed for a time period of 20 minutes. The dolphins while leaping continuously, kept following the boat for sometime and approaching as close as five meters during certain occasions. These dolphins were also observed at the same time on the same location on the following day. A questionnaire survey with nearby fishermen had confirmed that these dolphins were seen in this part of Gujarat during winter. Therefore, it is assumed that weather condition and prey availability is favorable for this species during this period. This is the first record of S. chinensis in western shore of Kachchh district detailed study regarding the distribution of this species is required across the creek system of Western Kachchh.
Highlights
The Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin Sousa chinensis (Osbeck, 1765), is widely distributed in ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) the shallow coastal and inshore ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) waters of the eastern and western Indian ocean and northwestern, OPEN ACCESS southwestern, and western central Pacific oceans (Reeves et al 2008)
S. chinensisis comes under ‘Near Threatened’ (NT) category on the IUCN Red List (Reeves et al 2008) but it is included in Appendix I of the Conservation of International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) and listed in Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
Studies on cetaceans in India were limited to age determination (Mohan 1995), stomach contents (Leatherwood & Reeves 1989), molecular identification (Jayashankar et al 2008) and behaviour (Bijukumar & Smrithy 2012; Muralidharan 2013)
Summary
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