Marine Mammals From Puerto Rico to Antigua

Erdman, Donald

The occurrence of marine mammals in the area of Puerto Rico to Antigua has been little documented in the literature. Although marine mammals are not seen there in great numbers or as frequently as in other regions, sufficient sight and stranding records have been collected to indicate definite seasonal distributions for several species. Records of other species are too few to show seasonal distributions but are included to confirm the presence of the species at specific times. Ten species of cetaceans and one sirenian are reported here. Most of the sight records are my observations made during 450 days at sea in 1945, 1946, and consecutively from 1953 through 1969. Observations were made every month. Three others contributed valuable data on whale sightings: John Harms, who has carried on deep sea sport fishing off the Virgin Islands for 200 days each year since April 1963 and whose descriptions of whales were accurate and detailed; Kyotaro Kawaguchi, FAO Fisheries Specialist, who made accurate drawings of whales seen by him; and Marcelino Marcial, wildlife biologist, who has reported whales from Mona Island since 1962.

Marine Mammals From Puerto Rico to Antigua

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