Lagenodelphis hosei

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	MAMMALIA	CETARTIODACTYLA	DELPHINIDAE

Scientific Name:

Lagenodelphis hosei

Species Authority:

Fraser, 1956

Common Name/s:

English	–	Fraser's Dolphin, Sarawak Dolphin
French	–	Dauphin De Fraser
Spanish	–	Delfín De Borneo, Delfín De Borneo

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Least Concern ver 3.1

Year Assessed:

2008

Assessor/s

Hammond, P.S., Bearzi, G., Bjørge, A., Forney, K., Karczmarski, L., Kasuya, T., Perrin, W.F., Scott, M.D., Wang, J.Y., Wells, R.S. & Wilson, B.

Evaluator/s:

Rojas-Bracho, L. & Smith, B.D. (Cetacean Red List Authority)

Justification:
The species is widespread and abundant (with current population estimates around 300,000) and there have been no reported population declines or major threats identified.

History:

1996	–	Data Deficient
1994	–	Insufficiently Known (IUCN)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	The exact distribution of this species is poorly known. Fraser's dolphin has a pantropical distribution, largely between 30°N and 30°S in all three major oceans (Jefferson and Leatherwood 1994; Dolar 2002). Strandings in temperate areas (Victoria in Australia, Brittany and Uruguay) may represent extralimital forays connected with temporary oceanographic anomalies such as the world-wide El Niño phenomenon in 1983-84, during which a mass stranding occurred in France (Perrin et al. 1994). Bones et al. (1998) reported on a stranding on the coast of Scotland.
Countries:	Native: American Samoa; Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Argentina; Aruba; Australia; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Benin; Bermuda; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; Cameroon; Cayman Islands; China; Colombia; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Cook Islands; Costa Rica; Côte d'Ivoire; Cuba; Djibouti; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Ecuador; El Salvador; Equatorial Guinea; Fiji; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guam; Guatemala; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Hong Kong; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Jamaica; Japan; Kenya; Kiribati; Liberia; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Marshall Islands; Mauritania; Mexico; Micronesia, Federated States of; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nauru; Netherlands Antilles; Northern Mariana Islands; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Peru; Philippines; Pitcairn; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Pierre and Miquelon; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Samoa; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Solomon Islands; Somalia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Suriname; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; Togo; Tonga; Trinidad and Tobago; United States; United States Minor Outlying Islands; Uruguay; Venezuela; Viet Nam; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.; Wallis and Futuna; Western Sahara; Yemen Vagrant: France; United Kingdom Presence uncertain: Angola; Korea, Democratic People's Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Seychelles; Taiwan, Province of China; Tuvalu; Vanuatu
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – eastern central; Atlantic – western central; Atlantic – southeast; Atlantic – southwest; Indian Ocean – western; Indian Ocean – eastern; Pacific – southeast; Pacific – western central; Pacific – eastern central; Pacific – northwest
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	There are estimated to be about 289,300 (CV=34%) Fraser’s dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific (Wade and Gerrodette 1993; Perrin et al. 1994), and 16,836 (CV=11%) in Hawaiian waters (Carretta et al. 2006). In the eastern Sulu Sea, Dolar et al. (2006) estimated a total abundance of 13,518 (CV=27%) Fraser’s dolphins. About 726 (CV=70%) were estimated present in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Waring et al. 2006).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population:

There are estimated to be about 289,300 (CV=34%) Fraser’s dolphins in the eastern tropical Pacific (Wade and Gerrodette 1993; Perrin et al. 1994), and 16,836 (CV=11%) in Hawaiian waters (Carretta et al. 2006). In the eastern Sulu Sea, Dolar et al. (2006) estimated a total abundance of 13,518 (CV=27%) Fraser’s dolphins. About 726 (CV=70%) were estimated present in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Waring et al. 2006).

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It is an oceanic species that prefers deep offshore waters, but it can be seen near shore in some areas where deep water approaches the coast (such as the Philippines, Taiwan, and some islands of the Caribbean and the Indo-Malay archipelago) (Perrin et al. 1994). In the eastern tropical Pacific, it occurs more often in Equatorial - southern subtropical surface water and other waters typified by upwelling and generally more variable conditions (Au and Perryman 1985). Off South Africa, records are associated with the warm Agulhas Current that moves south in the summer (Perrin et al. 1994). Fraser's dolphins feed on midwater fish (especially myctophids), squid, and crustaceans (Dolar et al. 2003). Physiological studies indicate that Fraser’s are capable of quite deep diving (and it is thought that they do most of their feeding deep in the water column – in waters up to 600 m deep), but they have been observed to feed near the surface as well (Watkins et al. 1994).
Systems:	Marine

Habitat and Ecology:

It is an oceanic species that prefers deep offshore waters, but it can be seen near shore in some areas where deep water approaches the coast (such as the Philippines, Taiwan, and some islands of the Caribbean and the Indo-Malay archipelago) (Perrin et al. 1994).

In the eastern tropical Pacific, it occurs more often in Equatorial - southern subtropical surface water and other waters typified by upwelling and generally more variable conditions (Au and Perryman 1985). Off South Africa, records are associated with the warm Agulhas Current that moves south in the summer (Perrin et al. 1994).

Fraser's dolphins feed on midwater fish (especially myctophids), squid, and crustaceans (Dolar et al. 2003). Physiological studies indicate that Fraser’s are capable of quite deep diving (and it is thought that they do most of their feeding deep in the water column – in waters up to 600 m deep), but they have been observed to feed near the surface as well (Watkins et al. 1994).

Systems:

Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Small numbers of Fraser's dolphins are taken regularly or opportunistically by harpoon in the Lesser Antilles, Sri Lanka, Indonesia (Kahn 2004), the Philippines, Taiwan and probably elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific (Jefferson and Leatherwood 1994). A few have been taken in drive fisheries in Taiwan and Japan (Perrin et al. 1994). Dolar et al. (1994) investigated directed fisheries for marine mammals in central and southern Visayas, northern Mindanao and Palawan, Philippines. Some of the hunters take only dolphins, for bait or human consumption and the species taken include Fraser's dolphins. Around 800 cetaceans are taken annually by hunters at the seven sites, mostly during the inter-monsoonal period of February-May. Some Fraser’s dolphins are killed incidentally in the tuna purse-seine fishery in the eastern tropical Pacific (Gerrodette and Wade 1991): 26 were estimated taken during the period 1971 - 75. A few are also taken in gill nets in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and likely in other tropical gillnet fisheries as well. Some are killed by anti-shark nets in South Africa (Perrin et al. 1994; Cockcroft 1990). Other incidental catches in purse seines (Philippines), gillnets, driftnets (Taiwan), and trap nets (Japan) are also known (Jefferson and Leatherwood 1994).

Major Threat(s):

Small numbers of Fraser's dolphins are taken regularly or opportunistically by harpoon in the Lesser Antilles, Sri Lanka, Indonesia (Kahn 2004), the Philippines, Taiwan and probably elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific (Jefferson and Leatherwood 1994). A few have been taken in drive fisheries in Taiwan and Japan (Perrin et al. 1994). Dolar et al. (1994) investigated directed fisheries for marine mammals in central and southern Visayas, northern Mindanao and Palawan, Philippines. Some of the hunters take only dolphins, for bait or human consumption and the species taken include Fraser's dolphins. Around 800 cetaceans are taken annually by hunters at the seven sites, mostly during the inter-monsoonal period of February-May.

Some Fraser’s dolphins are killed incidentally in the tuna purse-seine fishery in the eastern tropical Pacific (Gerrodette and Wade 1991): 26 were estimated taken during the period 1971 - 75. A few are also taken in gill nets in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and likely in other tropical gillnet fisheries as well. Some are killed by anti-shark nets in South Africa (Perrin et al. 1994; Cockcroft 1990). Other incidental catches in purse seines (Philippines), gillnets, driftnets (Taiwan), and trap nets (Japan) are also known (Jefferson and Leatherwood 1994).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES The Southeast Asian subpopulations are listed in Appendix II of CMS. Subpopulation structure and the impact of direct and incidental takes require further investigation.

Conservation Actions:

The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES

The Southeast Asian subpopulations are listed in Appendix II of CMS. Subpopulation structure and the impact of direct and incidental takes require further investigation.

Citation:	Hammond, P.S., Bearzi, G., Bjørge, A., Forney, K., Karczmarski, L., Kasuya, T., Perrin, W.F., Scott, M.D., Wang, J.Y., Wells, R.S. & Wilson, B. 2008. Lagenodelphis hosei. In: IUCN 2009. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 November 2009.
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