Occupation pattern of a harbor inlet by the estuarine dolphin, Sotalia guianensis (P. J. Van Bénéden, 1864) (Cetacea, Delphinidae)

• Autor(a) principal: Cremer,Marta Jussara
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Outros Autores: Simões-Lopes,Paulo César, Pires,José Salatiel Rodrigues
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-89132009000300029
• topic: Sotalia guianensis; occupation index; Babitonga bay; harbor use; behavior

The occupation pattern of Sotalia guianensis in São Francisco do Sul harbor inlet, in Babitonga bay, southern Brazil, was studied between September 1996 and June 1998. A total of 200 h of naturalistic observations and 141.2 h of estuarine dolphin systematic observations were made using binoculars 7 x 50. At each three minutes interval, data about number of individuals and behavior were registered. The population used the harbor inlet intensively, mainly for fishing activities. Ebb tide was responsible for a higher occupation index. Considering the months analyzed, the higher occupation index occurred in May, and in January the lower occurrence was observed. The mean group size was four individuals.