ABSTRACT

The distribution of marine mammal species in many areas remains poorly understood, especially as observations for some taxa are rare and large-scale surveys are time consuming and extremely costly. Here, we present 36 records of 7 cetacean species (Balaenoptera brydei, B. musculus subspp., Delphinus delphis, Globicephala sp., Grampus griseus, Physeter macrocephalus, Pseudorca crassidens) in the New Caledonia Basin, Tasman Sea, along with their associated biological and environmental data. Data were derived from a platform of opportunity during a seismic survey that ran between December 2015 and March 2016, inclusively. The two most frequently encountered species were sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus, 13 sightings, 5 acoustic detections) and blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus subspp., 8 visual detections). All encountered species are known to occur in New Zealand waters at least occasionally, based on historical sightings and stranding records. However, data presented here are the first cetacean records for this specific area and demonstrate that seismic vessels can act as a platform of opportunity for studying cetacean distribution in poorly accessible areas. Such data will aid future research efforts including species distribution models on cetaceans in the South Pacific.

摘要

人们对海洋哺乳动物物种在许多地区的分布仍然知之甚少，特别是因为对某些分类单元的观察很少，而且大规模的调查既费时又非常昂贵。在这里，我们目前36所记录的7种鲸类（鲸brydei，B.家鼠subspp，海豚DELPHIS，Globicephala属，鲸灰色链霉菌，Physeter鲷，Pseudorca crassidens）以及塔斯曼海新喀里多尼亚盆地的相关生物和环境数据。数据是从2015年12月至2016年3月（含）期间进行的地震勘测中的机会平台得出的。两种最常见的物种是抹香鲸（Physeter macrocephalus，13次目击，5次声学检测）和蓝鲸（Balaenoptera musculus）（最多8个视觉检测）。根据历史发现和搁浅记录，已知所有遇到的物种至少偶尔在新西兰水域中发生。但是，此处提供的数据是该特定区域的首次鲸类记录，并证明地震船可以作为研究可访问性较差地区鲸类分布的机会平台。这些数据将有助于未来的研究工作，包括南太平洋鲸类的物种分布模型。