Abstract
The analysis of cetacean strandings can provide fundamental information about species diversity and composition in a particular region. The present study collected and analyzed cetacean strandings, bycatches and rescues along the western coast of the Taiwan Strait, China, from 2010 to 2015. In total, 48 records, including 37 strandings, 8 bycatches and 3 rescues, involving 13 known species were collected. Among them, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins (Sousa chinensis) and finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides) were the most common species, consisting of 31.3% and 25%, respectively. Notably, 10 out of the 48 (20.8%) records were collected from the Pingtan Island and included 3 species of Mysticeti and 4 species of Odontoceti. Finally, we compared the cetacean species composition between the western and eastern coasts of the Taiwan Strait; 31 cetacean species occurred in the Taiwan Strait, indicating a relatively high cetacean diversity in this region. Systematic field surveys are urgently needed to explore the cetacean species composition, population stock and the related habitat status in the Taiwan Strait, which may improve conservation management in the future.
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The authors are grateful to Tong Shenhan from the Xiamen Institute of Aquatic and Terrestrial Product for their generous help and collection of samples.
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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars of China under contract No. 41506164; the foundation of the State Oceanic Administration of China under contract No. 201105011; the Natural Science Foundation for Young Scholars of Fujian Province under contract No. 2017J05062; China-ASEAN maritime cooperation fund under contract No. HX150702; the foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China under contract No.1070413701307; the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong (OPCFHK) under contract No. MM03_1617.
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Zhao, L., Zhu, Q., Miao, X. et al. An overview of cetacean strandings, bycatches and rescues along the western coast of the Taiwan Strait, China: 2010–2015. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 36, 31–36 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1100-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-017-1100-5