Title

Skull Morphometry Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) From The Gulf Of Mexico

Keywords

Bottlenose dolphin; Cranial morphometrics; Gulf of Mexico; Skull morphology; Tursiops truncatus

Abstract

Skull morphometry of 206 stranded juvenile and adult bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) from Texas and Florida were examined. Juveniles differed significantly from adults in both Texas and Florida populations. Sexual dimorphism was present in skulls from Texas but not from Florida. Regional differences in females from Texas and Florida were apparent, especially in braincase height, whereas male bottlenose dolphins did not differ between regions. Females could be distinguished accurately to region (90% classification success) using skull morphometry. Cranial morphometrics of T. truncatus are concrete values that may aid in identification of a type specimen for each population. Furthermore, these results can be used as a standard for Tursiops in the Gulf of Mexico.

Publication Date

5-1-2003

Publication Title

Journal of Mammalogy

Volume

84

Issue

2

Number of Pages

665-672

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1644/1545-1542(2003)084<0665:SMOBDT>2.0.CO;2

Socpus ID

0038046181 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0038046181

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