Assateague Island National Seashore, Marine Animal Strandings, 1999
Ramsey S. 1999. Assateague Island National Seashore, Marine Animal Strandings, 1999. National Park Service
During 1999, a total of 22 stranded marine animals, 3 live and 19 dead, came ashore on Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland. Of the total animals stranded on the ocean beach, there were 4 sea turtles and 18 marine mammals. Strandings were documented from 27 January through 6 September. Live strandings included a Harbor Seal, (Phoca vitulina), on 27 January, a Long-finned Pilot Whale, (Globicephala melaena), on 28 March, and a Bottlenose Dolphin, (Tursiops truncatus), on 6 September. Dead strandings included 15 Harbor Porpoises, (Phocoena phocoena), between 7 March and 19 April and 4 Loggerhead Sea Turtles, (Caretta caretta), between 23 July and 2 September. The Marine Mammal/Sea Turtle Stranding Network, through the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, examined dead strandings, while the Marine Animal Rescue Program through the National Aquarium in Baltimore recovered the live animals. Between 1990 - 1999, the average number of total strandings recorded for the Maryland portion of Assateague Island was 14, with ranges from 6 - 22 animals.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Ramsey, Shanna
- Date of Issue
- 1999
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- ASIS
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Assategue Island National Seashore MD, bottle-nosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina), Kemp's Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta), Long-finned, Mortality, Pilot Whale (Globicephala melaena), Sea Turtles (Cheloniidae & Dermochelyidae), stranding whales & dolphins (Cetacea)