Cetaceans of Costa Rica

Species Diversity
Cetaceans’ species list
Studies in Costa Rica

Species Diversity

Humpback whale

Bottlenose dolphin

Pantropical Spotted dolphin

Tucuxi

False Killer whale

Costa Rican Dome

Lists of Marine Mammals

	Odontoceti	Mysticeti	Total
World	72	13	85
Costa Rica	23	6	29
% of the total	32	46	34

Costa Rica’s Species’ List (1)

Species	Common name	UICN Category	CITES Category
ORDER CETACEA
FAMILY BALAENOPTERIDAE
Balaenoptera musculus	Blue whale	E	CITES I
Balaenoptera physalus	Fin whale	E	CITES I
Balaenoptera borealis	Sei whale	E	CITES I
Balaenoptera edeni	Dyde  whale	I	CITES I
Acutorostrata Balaenoptera	Minke whale	D	CITES I
Megaptera novaeangliae	Humpback whale	V	CITES I
FAMILY PHYSETERIDAE
Physeter macrocephalus	Sperm whales	V	CITES I
FAMILY KOGIIDAE
Kogia Deviceps	Pygmy sperm whale	D
Kogia sima	Dwarf  sperm whale	D
FAMILY ZIPHIIDAE
Ziphius cavirostris	Cuvier beaked whale	I
Mesoplodon densirostris	Blainville beaked whale	I
Mesoplodon europaeus	Gervais beaked whale	I
Mesoplodon peruvianus	Pygmy beaked whale	I
FAMILY DELPHINIDAE
Orcinus orca	Killer whale	D
Globicephala macrorynchus	Short-finned Pilot  whale	D
Pseudorca crassidens	False killer whale	D
Feresa attenuata	Pygmy killer whale	I
Peponocephala electra	Melon-headed whale	I
Sotalia guianensis	Tucuxi	I	CITES I
Steno Dedanensis	Rough toothed dolphin	I
Grampus griseus	Risso’s dolphin	I
Tursiops truncatus	Bottlenose	I
Stenella attenuata	Pantropical  spotted dolphin	D
Stenella frontalis	Atlantic spotted dolphin	I
Stenella longirostris	Spinner dolphin	D
Stenella clymene	Clymene dolphin	I
Stenella coeruleoalba	Striped dolphin	D
Delphinus delphis	Common dolphin	I
Lagenodelphis hosei	Fraser’s  dolphin	I

UCIN=World Conservation Union, E=Endangered, I=Inadequate information (data deficient), D=Lower risk, conservation-dependent, V= Vulnerable. CITES according to UICN 2003.
(1) Modified from Rodriguez-Herrera et al . 2002

Cetaceans of Costa Rica

Species’ Diversity

ORDER CETACEA

SUBORDER MYSTICETI

FAMILY BALAENOPTERIDAE

BLUE WHALE: Balaenoptera musculus

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 25-30m
Prey: crustaceans
Life span: 70 years

FIN WHALE: Balaenoptera physalus

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 20-24m
Prey: crustaceans, fish, cephalopods
Life span: At least 80 years

SEI WHALE: Balaenoptera borealis

Length: 12-16m
Prey: Fish, cephalopods, crustaceans
Life span: Probably more than 50 years

DYDE WHALE: Balaenoptera edeni

Local distribution: MAP
Length:12-15m
Prey: Fish and crustaceans.
Life span: Unavailable.

MINKE WHALE: Balaenoptera  acutorostrata

Length: 7-10m
Prey: crustaceans and fish
Life span: Unavailable, probably 50 years.

HUMPBACK WHALE : Megaptera novaeangliae

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 12-15m
Prey: crustaceans and fish
Life span: At least 50 years

FAMILY PHYSETERIDAE

SPERM WHALE: Physeter macrocephalus

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 11-18m
Prey: cephalopods and fish
Life span: Minimum 60-70 years

FAMILY KOGIIDAE

PYGMY SPERM WHALE: Kogia Deviceps

Length: 2.7-3.4m
Prey: cephalopods, fish and crustaceans
Life span: Unavailable

DWARF SPERM WHALE: Kogia sima

Length: 2.1-2.7m
Prey: cephalopods, fish and crustaceans
Life span: Unavailable

FAMILY ZIPHIIDAE

CUVIER´s BEAKED WHALE: Ziphius cavirostris

Length: 7 m

BLAINVILLE´s BEAKED WHALE: Mesoplodon densirostris

Length: 4.5 m
Prey: small cephalopods, fish

GERVAIS BEAKED WHALE : Mesoplodon europaeus

Length: 4.7 m
Prey: unavailable information, but possibly cephalopods

PYGMY BEAKED WHALE: Mesoplodon peruvianus

Length: 3.9 m
Prey: fish

FAMILY DELPHINIDAE

KILLER WHALE: Orcinus orca

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 8 m
Prey: diet ranges from small fish and squid to great mammals like whales. They are very specialized and that specialization often depends on their location.

SHORT-FINNED PILOT WHALE: Globicephala macrorhynchus

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 4.2 and up to 7 m
Prey: mainly squid

FALSE KILLER WHALE: Pseudorca crassidens

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.7 m
Prey: cephalopods, fish and possibly crustaceans

PYGMY KILLER WHALE: Feresa attenuata

Length: 2.6 m
Prey: squid and  fish

MELON-HEADED WHALE: Peponocephala electra

Length: 2.7 m
Prey: pelagic fish, squid and occasionally crustaceans

TUCUXI: Sotalia guianensis

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 1.5-2 m
Prey: large  variety of fish

ROUGH-TOOTHED DOLPHIN: Steno Dedanensis (G. Cuvier in Lesson, 1828)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.1- 2,6 m, calf 1 m
Prey: fish and cephalopods.

RISSO´s DOLPHIN: Grampus griseus (G. Cuvier, 1812)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 3.6- 3,8 m, calf 1,1- 1,5 m
Prey: mainly cephalopods.

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN: Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.4- 3,8 m, calf 0,8- 1,4 m
Prey: large variety of organisms, depending on their habitat (fish, invertebrates and fish.

PANTROPICAL SPOTTED DOLPHIN: Stenella attenuata (Gray, 1846)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.4- 2,57 m, calf 0,85 m
Prey: great variety of fish, cephalopods and crustaceans in smaller proportion.

ATLANTIC SPOTTED DOLPHIN: Stenella frontalis (G. Cuvier, 1829)

Length: 2.3 m, calf 0,9- 1,1 m
Prey: demersal fish, cephalopods and inverteDates.

SPINNER DOLPHIN: Stenella longirostris (Gray, 1828)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.11- 2,35 m, calf 0,76- 0,77 m
Prey: mesopelagic fish, cephalopods and shrimps that are between the 100-200 m depths.

CLYMENE DOLPHIN: Stenella clymene (Gray, 1850)

Length: 1.7- 1,97 m, calf 0,8 m
Prey: mesopelagic fish and cephalopods.

STRIPED DOLPHIN: Stenella coeruleoalba (Meyen, 1833)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.4-2.65 m, calf 0.9-0.95 m
Prey: small fish and cephalopods.

COMMON DOLPHIN: Delphinus delphis (Lineaus, 1758)

Local distribution: MAP
Length: 2.7 m, calf 0,8-1 m
Prey: small cephalopods and schooling fish

FRASER´s  DOLPHIN: Lagenodelphis hosei (Fraser, 1956)

Length: 2.7m, calf 1 m
Prey: mesopelagic fish, squids and shrimps.