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Scientific NameCommon NameMegaptera novaeangliaeHumpback whaleRecords of Cetaceans in the Waters of Wallis and FutunaCitationClassC. Garrigue pers. comm. 1Unconfirmed SpeciesPhyseter macrocephalus, Sperm whale (Berzin 1972)22.Wallis and FutunaLand Area (km 2 ): 255Sea Area (EEZ) (thousands of km 2 ): 300Consists of primarily volcanic islands including Wallis,Futuna and Alofi as well as approximately 20 islets.The nation of Wallis and Futuna has had no directedresearch into marine mammal diversity. A speculativecetacean record was the historical distribution rangeof sperm whales noted to include the region south ofEllice Islands (Tuvalu) to the north of the Fiji Islands(Berzin 1972) which would likely encompass Wallis andFutuna waters. In addition personal communicationwith C. Garrigue has indicated that humpback whaleare also present in these waters.Species recorded withinAustralian waters(Bannister et al. 1996, Smith 2001, Ross 2006):spectacled porpoise, minke whale, Antarctic minkewhale, sei whale, Bryde’s whale, blue whale, finwhale, Arnoux’s beaked whale, pygmy right whale,common dolphin, southern right whale, pygmy killerwhale, short-finned pilot whale, long-finned pilotwhale, Risso’s dolphin, southern bottlenose whale,Indo-Pacific beaked whale, pygmy sperm whale,dwarf sperm whale, Fraser’s dolphin, hourglassdolphin, dusky dolphin, southern right whaledolphin, humpback whale, Longman’s beaked whale,Andrew’s beaked whale, Blainville’s beaked whale,gingko-toothed beaked whale, Gray’s beaked whale,Hector’s beaked whale, Layard’s beaked whale, True’sbeaked whale, Irrawaddy, snubfin dolphin, orca,melon-headed whale, sperm whale, false killer whale,Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphin, pantropical spotteddolphin, striped dolphin, spinner dolphin, roughtootheddolphin, Tasman’s beaked whale, Indo-Pacificbottlenose dolphin, common bottlenose dolphin,Cuvier’s beaked whale.Species recorded withinNew Zealand waters(Department of Conservation 2006): spectacledporpoise, minke whale, Antarctic minke whale, seiwhale, Bryde’s whale, Arnoux’s beaked whale, pygmyright whale, Hector’s dolphin, common dolphin,southern right whale, short-finned pilot whale,long-finned pilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, southernbottlenose whale, Longman’s beaked whale, pygmysperm whale, dwarf sperm whale, Fraser’s dolphin,hourglass dolphin, dusky dolphin, southern right whaledolphin, humpback whale, Andrew’s beaked whale,Blainville’s beaked whale, gingko-toothed beakedwhale, Gray’s beaked whale, Hector’s beaked whale,True’s beaked whale, Layard’s beaked whale, Perrins’beaked whale, pygmy beaked whale, spade-toothedbeaked whale, finless porpoise, orca, sperm whale,false killer whale, pantropical spotted dolphin, stripeddolphin, spinner dolphin, Tasman’s beaked whale,bottlenose dolphin, Cuvier’s beaked whale.Species recorded withinHawaiian waters (U.S.)(Caretta et al. 2005): minke whale, sei whale, Bryde’swhale, blue whale, fin whale, pygmy killer whale, shortfinnedpilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, Longman’s beakedwhale, pygmy sperm whale, dwarf sperm whale, Fraser’sdolphin, humpback whale, Blainville’s beaked whale,orca, melon-headed whale, sperm whale, false killerwhale, pantropical spotted dolphin, striped dolphin,spinner dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, commonbottlenose dolphin, Cuvier’s beaked whale.60 CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE OF CETACEAN THREATS, DIVERSITY, AND HABITATS IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION
SummaryAfter analysis of records it became apparent thata core group of species made up the majority ofcetacean records for the Pacific Islands Region.Focussing on the 22 Island Countries and Territories(i.e., excluding records from Australia, New Zealandand Hawaii) the list of species that appear to beresident or typically migrant are: minke whales(two species and multiple subspecies), sei whale,Bryde’s whales (two species), blue whales (multiplesubspecies), humpback whale, pygmy killer whale,short-finned pilot whale, Risso’s dolphin, Fraser’sdolphin, orca, melon-headed whale, false killer whale,pantropical spotted dolphin, striped dolphin, spinnerdolphin, rough-toothed dolphin, bottlenose dolphin(two species), dwarf sperm whale, pygmy spermwhale, sperm whale, Blainville’s beaked whale, andCuvier’s beaked whale. It is plausible that ongoingtaxonomic investigations may indicate that the currentspecies and subspecies designations are inadequate todisplay the diversity of these records. In addition thereare numerous rare and vagrant species with recordswithin this same region, including: fin whale, commondolphin (two species), Irrawaddy dolphin (possibly twospecies, although unresolved), Indo-Pacific humpbackdolphin, southern right whale, southern bottlenosewhale, and tentative records of both Peale’s dolphinand southern right whale dolphin. Of course, thelimited research efforts in this region coupled with thevery large expanse of the Pacific Islands Region marinecoverage makes it plausible that there may also be asyet unreported species that inhabit these waters. Onesuch example is the numerous unconfirmed sightingsof additional beaked whale species (for e.g., Reeveset al. 1999, Kahn 2004). In addition there are 21cetacean species for which there are records only fromAustralian, New Zealand and/or Hawaiian waters. Inmany cases these represent more temperate species.These species are: spectacled porpoise, Arnoux’sbeaked whale, pygmy right whale, long-finned pilotwhale, Indo-Pacific beaked whale, hourglass dolphin,dusky dolphin, Andrew’s beaked whale, gingkotoothedbeaked whale, Gray’s beaked whale, Hector’sbeaked whale, Layard’s beaked whale, True’s beakedwhale, Tasman’s beaked whale, Hubb’s beaked whale,Hector’s dolphin, Longman’s beaked whale, Perrin’sbeaked whale, pygmy beaked whale, spade-toothedbeaked whale, and finless porpoise.Table 1: Country checklist summary of cetaceanspecies with records classified as either 1 or 2(according to definitions on page 35) for only the 22Pacific Island Countries and Territories (i.e., excludingAustralia, New Zealand, and Hawaii). Some speciescategories have been combined due to noteddifficulties with individual species identification orsubspecies differentiation, and/or instances wheretaxonomic nomenclature is unresolved or has changed.Specifically, the categories of bottlenose dolphins,common dolphins, dwarf/pygmy sperm whale, minkewhales, and blue whales each include all species andor subspecies. Irrawaddy dolphin records may alsoinclude snub-fin dolphin records. ‘Bryde’s-like’ whalesrefers to all Bryde’s whale records as well as historicalrecords of sei whales in which differentiation fromBryde’s whales is at all questionable.CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE OF CETACEAN THREATS, DIVERSITY, AND HABITATS IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDS REGION 61
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Current State of Knowledge ofCetace
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Current State of Knowledge of Cetac
Page 7 and 8:
Chapter 4: Cetacean checklists by c
Page 9 and 10: Executive SummaryThis report provid
Page 12 and 13: The limited land base of the 22 Pac
Page 14 and 15: “Pacific Island Countries and Ter
Page 16 and 17: Land degradationDue to the limited
Page 18 and 19: identified as marine and coastal ec
Page 20 and 21: The distribution of Pacific Ocean t
Page 22 and 23: ecent global survey of toxicity lev
Page 24 and 25: and Orams 2005). Hector’s dolphin
Page 26 and 27: pilot whale (4), sperm whale (2), s
Page 28 and 29: al. 2003). In January 2004 a humpba
Page 30 and 31: Stranded Cuvier’s beaked whale, A
Page 32 and 33: Reeves et al. (1999) also refer to
Page 34 and 35: “... the limited research efforts
Page 36 and 37: were made to ensure that classifica
Page 38 and 39: Scientific NameCommon NameBalaenopt
Page 40 and 41: their presence in the region. Distr
Page 42 and 43: Over the austral summer of 1998-199
Page 44 and 45: 7. KiribatiLand Area (km 2 ): 811Se
Page 50 and 51: Northern Marianas Islands (D. Johns
Page 54 and 55: within the Pitcairn group reported
Page 56 and 57: short-finned pilot whales have been
Page 62 and 63: Table 1American SamoaCook IslandsFe
Page 64 and 65: “The diverse and expansive Pacifi
Page 66 and 67: feeding occurs in summer to warmer,
Page 68 and 69: ID: At sea identification between l
Page 70 and 71: FAMILY PhocoenidaePhocoena dioptric
Page 72 and 73: “... the subtleties and extent of
Page 74 and 75: Palumbi. 1993. Abundant mitochondri
Page 76 and 77: Coan, A. L., G. T. Sakagawa, D. Pre
Page 78 and 79: Forestell, P.H. and G. D. Kaufman.
Page 80 and 81: Halliday I., J. Ley, A. Tobin, R. G
Page 82 and 83: grouping and population structure.
Page 84 and 85: Moller, L. M. and R. G. Harcourt. 1
Page 86 and 87: Paterson, R., P. Paterson and D. H.
Page 88 and 89: Samuels, A., L. Bejder and S. Heinr
Page 90 and 91: Trianni, M. S. and C. C. Kessler. 2
Page 92 and 93: “The conservation status of amigr
Page 94 and 95: TAXONVERNACULAR NAMESUBORDER ODONTO
Page 96 and 97: taxon, threatened status may well b
Page 98: WDCS CMS ProgrammeCoordinating Offi
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