碩士 / 國立海洋大學 / 漁業科學學系 / 84 / ABSTRACT
The objective of this study is to explore fauna and
distribution of cetaceans in Taiwan waters and to estimate the
abundance of small cetaceans in the southwestern Taiwan
waters.
A total of 230 available historical records of cetaceans was
used to analyze the fauna and distribution of cetaceans in
Taiwan waters. In addition to 26 species reconfirmed from
Yang(1976) and Mizue(1987), 3 species, blue whale, short-
finned pilot whale and Indo-Pacific hump-back dolphin
were found to occur in Taiwan waters. Therefore, twenty-nine
species of cetaceans were confirmed to occur in Taiwan
waters. In the past three decades, no records of large whale
such as gray whale, fin whale, blue whale, sei whale and
humpbacked whale were found in Taiwan waters. The minke whale,
Bryde''s whale and sperm whale had a few stranding and
sighting records. Most records of Blainville''s, Ginkgo-
toothed and Cuvier''s beaked whales were obtained from
stranding data. The species and records of small cetaceans
are more than those of large whale and beaked whale. The
bottlenose dolphin is the most common species of small
cetacean in the southwestern Taiwan waters while the
Pantropical spotted dolphin is the most common species in
the eastern Taiwan waters. The cetaceans were mainly
distributed in the southwestern and eastern Taiwan waters.
Twelve ship surveys have been conducted in the southwestern
Taiwan waters from December 1994 to January 1996. Twenty-four
herds of small cetaceans were sighted, including 11 herds of
bottlenose dolphin, 4 herds of Risso''s dolphin, 2 herds of
Pantropical spotted dolphin, 1 herd of false killer whale
and 6 herds of unidentified species. Encounter rates in
coastal area (water depth less than 100 meters) and in-shore
area (water depth more than 100 meters) are 0.1 (herd/100
nmi) and 2.3 (herd/100 nmi), respectively. Encounter rates of
in-shore area are 3 (herd/100nmi) in winter and 0.36 (herd/100
nmi) in summer. Winter is the main occurring season of
small cetaceans in the southwestern Taiwan waters.
The occurrence of cetaceans in the southwestern Taiwan waters
is highly related to the sea surface temperature. The seasonal
change of sea surface temperature obtained from NOAA
meteorological satellite indicated that cold and warm currents
are mixed and interrelated near Pen- Hu Island waters in
winter. The current front prevented dolphins from moving
northward. In summer, strong Kuroshio current passes
through the eastern and western Taiwan waters with high
temperature and salinity. The sea surface temperature has
no effect on the distribution of cetaceans. Therefore,
cetaceans are not abundant in summer. Historical records of
cetaceans and survey results agreed with this finding.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TW/084NTOU0451009 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Huang, Chao-Ching, 黃昭欽 |
| Contributors | Chen, Che-Tsung, Liu, Kwang-Ming, 陳哲聰, 劉光明 |
| Source Sets | National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan |
| Language | zh-TW |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Format | 88 |
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