. Cetaceans of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary / prepared for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service by Stephen Leatherwood, Brent S. Stewart, Pieter A. Folkens. Whales California Channel FIGURE 38. A fast-swimming group of northern right-whale dolphins off Point Conception. These sleek, finless dolphins can sustain speeds of at least 18 knots for protracted periods. (Photo by R. L. Pitman.) and spring. In those months northern right-whale dolphins are the second or third mos
. Cetaceans of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary / prepared for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary and NOAA, National Marine Fisheries Service by Stephen Leatherwood, Brent S. Stewart, Pieter A. Folkens. Whales California Channel FIGURE 38. A fast-swimming group of northern right-whale dolphins off Point Conception. These sleek, finless dolphins can sustain speeds of at least 18 knots for protracted periods. (Photo by R. L. Pitman.) and spring. In those months northern right-whale dolphins are the second or third most abundant delphinid in the SCB, behind common and perhaps white-sided dolphin, and they may be met within a wide variety of locations. Right-whale dolphins are not usually found in waters warmer than 19 C and their movements overall appear related to water temperature and movements of prey. Their appearance inshore most often coincides with peak abundance of squid, a major prey item. Sightings of right-whale dolphins are not uncommon in and near the SCB, particularly in winter. With respect to the CINMS, our observations and those reported to us have been largely along the southern and western shores of the four northern islands, but there are records from near Santa Barbara Island and in the Santa Barbara Channel in winter and spring. Some of these latter records are as close as 5 nm to the mainland. In a 1979 review of the status of knowledge about this species it was noted that strandings were not common, there having been only 35 since the species was described in 1848. In 1981 alone, however, there were 23 specimens collected from south central and southern California beaches, alone. Causes for the inshore move- ments which presumably resulted in these strandings are not FIGURE 39. A northern right-whale dolphin, the only finless small cetacean in the CINMS, shown on the beach at Tyler's Bight, San Miguel Island, 27 April 1981. (Photo by B. S. Stewart.). Please no
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