Abstract

Cetaceans were surveyed using ship transects across the seas of Raja Ampat (West Papua) in November and December 2007. Sighting effort reached 120 hours, over a total distance of 1561 km. The most common cetacean sighted was the spinner dolphin, Stenella longirostris (~0.238 individuals/km), most frequently in pods of 15-20 individuals, in relatively-shallow to deep waters (82-2310 m). All those spinner dolphins that were positively identified from photographs were of the pelagic form (S. l. longirostris). Other cetaceans sighted were the short-finned pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, Risso's dolphin, Grampus griseus, the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops sp., the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens and the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus.

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