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
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
0038046181 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0038046181
STARS Citation
Turner, Jason P. and Worthy, Graham A.J., "Skull Morphometry Of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) From The Gulf Of Mexico" (2003). Scopus Export 2000s. 1782.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2000/1782