engleski

Present state of understanding of the Cetacean fauna of the Croatian Adriatic sea

Records of cetaceans in the Croatian Adriatic sea date back to the mid 1800’ s. Since then numerous species have been identified, described and published in different scientific literature. However a recent review of the species, taken from published literature, stranded carcasses and confirmed reports from this period reveal that only nine cetacean species have been recorded in the Croatian Adriatic Sea. These include ; the fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus ; sperm whale, Physeter catodon ; Cuvier's beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris ; false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens ; long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas ; Risso's dolphin, Grampus griseus ; bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus ; common dolphin, Delphinus delphis ; and striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba. All these species are known to be regularly present in the Mediterranean, so their appearance in the Croatian Adriatic sea is no surprise. All of these species, with the exception of the common and the bottlenose dolphin - species regularly present in the entire Adriatic during historic times, are very rare visitors, believed to have strayed from the Mediterranean. Current knowledge suggests that only bottlenose dolphins are distributed throughout the entire Adriatic sea. The common dolphin, once the most abundant cetacean species in the Adriatic sea, is now considered regionally extinct from northern section, and the status of the population in southern part is largely unknown. Regular sightings of the striped dolphin in the northern section during the past decade also suggest that this species is extending its range.The possible changes in range of the common and striped dolphins, together with the new findings of Grampus griseus, Balaenoptera physalus and Ziphius cavirostris (misidentified as Hyperoodon ampullatus) are presented and discussed.

Cetaceans; Adriatic; distribution; fauna

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