Stenella clymene

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:

Stenella clymene

Species Authority

(Gray, 1846)

Common Name/s:

English	–	Clymene Dolphin, Atlantic Spinner Dolphin, Helmet Dolphin
French	–	Dauphin De Clymène
Spanish	–	Delfín Clymene

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Data Deficient 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, but abundance has not been estimated for the mid- and east Atlantic (and where abundance estimates do exist for other regions, these are low) and there are bycatches and directed takes in West Africa of unknown, but likely escalating, scale.

History:

1996	–	Data Deficient (Baillie and Groombridge 1996)
1994	–	Insufficiently Known (Groombridge 1994)

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	The Clymene dolphin is found only in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic Ocean, including the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico (Jefferson et al. 1995). This species has a notable warm-water preference, although there are records as far north as New Jersey on the U.S. east coast and as far south as southern Brazil (Zerbini and Kotas 1998). The limits on the West African coast are not well known, but extend from at least the equator north to Mauritania. The Clymene dolphin is not known to enter the Mediterranean Sea (Perrin and Mead 1994, Jefferson and Curry 2003, Fertl et al. 2003).
Countries:	Native: Antigua and Barbuda; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Brazil; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Cayman Islands; Côte d'Ivoire; Dominica; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Honduras; Jamaica; Mauritania; Mexico; Netherlands Antilles; Puerto Rico; Saint Helena; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Senegal; Sierra Leone; United States; Venezuela Presence uncertain: Angola; Benin; Colombia; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Costa Rica; Cuba; Dominican Republic; Equatorial Guinea; French Guiana; Gambia; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guinea-Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Liberia; Morocco; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Panama; Sao Tomé and Principe; Spain (Canary Is.); Suriname; Togo; Western Sahara
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:	Native: Atlantic – western central; Atlantic – northwest; Atlantic – southeast; Atlantic – southwest; Atlantic – eastern central
Range Map:	(click map to view full version)

Population [top]

Population:	Abundance has only been estimated for the northern Gulf of Mexico and US east coast (6,575 (CV=36%) and 6,086 (CV=93%), respectively -- Waring et al. 2008). However, considering the difficulty of distinguishing it from similarly marked species at sea, it may not be as rare as it would seem to be (Perrin and Mead 1994). Based on capture records, S. clymene appears to be the most common cetacean in Ghana's coastal waters (Van Waerebeek et al. 2000).
Population Trend:	Unknown

Population:

Abundance has only been estimated for the northern Gulf of Mexico and US east coast (6,575 (CV=36%) and 6,086 (CV=93%), respectively -- Waring et al. 2008). However, considering the difficulty of distinguishing it from similarly marked species at sea, it may not be as rare as it would seem to be (Perrin and Mead 1994). Based on capture records, S. clymene appears to be the most common cetacean in Ghana's coastal waters (Van Waerebeek et al. 2000).

Population Trend:

Unknown

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	This is a deep-water, oceanic species, not often seen near shore (unless deep water approaches the coast). Very few stomachs have been examined, and there are even fewer observations of feeding behavior reported in the literature. Clymene dolphins apparently feed predominantly on small fish (including myctophids) and squid at moderate depths (Jefferson and Curry 2003).
Systems:	Marine

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	Although they are known to be taken by harpoon occasionally in dolphin fisheries in the Caribbean (especially St. Vincent in the Lesser Antilles), and incidental captures in fishing nets do occur throughout much of the range, the Clymene dolphin is not known to suffer any heavy exploitation at present (Jefferson and Curry 2003). The only possible exception may be off the coast of West Africa, where this species is possibly one of several taken in large numbers in tuna purse seines in the Gulf of Guinea (Van Waerebeek et al. 2000). Clymene dolphins are captured incidentally in gillnets in Venezuelan waters and utilized for longline shark bait and for human consumption (Perrin and Mead 1994).

Major Threat(s):

Although they are known to be taken by harpoon occasionally in dolphin fisheries in the Caribbean (especially St. Vincent in the Lesser Antilles), and incidental captures in fishing nets do occur throughout much of the range, the Clymene dolphin is not known to suffer any heavy exploitation at present (Jefferson and Curry 2003). The only possible exception may be off the coast of West Africa, where this species is possibly one of several taken in large numbers in tuna purse seines in the Gulf of Guinea (Van Waerebeek et al. 2000).

Clymene dolphins are captured incidentally in gillnets in Venezuelan waters and utilized for longline shark bait and for human consumption (Perrin and Mead 1994).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES. Further research should be conducted on subpopulation structure, abundance and takes in West African waters, where by-catch has evolved into directed take.

Conservation Actions:

The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES.

Further research should be conducted on subpopulation structure, abundance and takes in West African waters, where by-catch has evolved into directed take.

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. Stenella clymene. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 21 November 2008.
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