Status of cetaceans in Tunisia through analysis of stranding data from 1937 to 2009

摘要

A survey of cetaceans stranded along the Tunisian coastline (2004 -2009) and a review of the literature allowed us to record a total number of 132 stranding events from 1937 to 2009. They included two species of balaenopteridae, one species of physeteridae and fi ve species of delphinidae. The common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821) and the fi n whale Balaenoptera physalus (Linnaeus, 1758) were the main stranded species in 83 and 21 stranding cases, respectively, representing 78.78 % of all records. Stranding events occurred all the year round, with the highest frequency in spring (21.68 %) and summer (50.60 %) for the common bottlenose dolphin and in winter for the fi n whale (50 %). The common bottlenose dolphin was more vulnerable to human and fi sheries interaction while the fi n whale was more prone to be trapped in shallow waters.