Tursiops aduncus ( Ehrenberg, 1833 )

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, Zootaxa 4522 (1), pp. 1-216 : 150

Tursiops aduncus ( Ehrenberg, 1833) —Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin

Delphinus aduncus Ehrenberg, 1833 decasII, folio K, ftn. 1; Type locality- Dahlak Archipelago, Ethiopia (currently, Eritrea).

T. truncatus: Kim et al., 2000 p.100 ; Kim, 2004 p.245.

T. aduncus: Kim, 2011 p.5 .

Range: Tursiops aduncus only occurs in the waters of Jeju Island ( Kim 2004; Fig. 101 ).

Remarks: Analyses of external morphology and skeletal characters of co-occurring ' aduncus ' and ' truncatus ' forms in Chinese waters confirmed that T. aduncu s represents a distinct species from T. truncatus ( Wang et al. 2000a, b). Two independent mitochondrial DNA studies (control region and cytochrome b gene) supported this result ( LeDuc et al. 1999; Wang et al. 1999). These genetic data suggest a closer relationship of T. aduncus to Stenella frontalis , S. clymene , S. coeruleoalba and Delphinus spp. than to T. truncatus ( LeDuc et al. 1999) , indicating the necessity of a taxonomic revision within the Subfamily Delphininae . Habitat specialization occurred independently in different ocean basins, perhaps with T. aduncus filling the ecological niche of the inshore ecotype in some coastal regions of the Indian and western Pacific Ocean ( Tezanos-Pinto et al. 2009).

Although the morphological difference in the population of Tursiops near Jeju Island has been recognized ( Kim et al. 2000; Kim 2004), Kim (2010, 2011) raised this population to a distinct species T. aduncus from T. truncatus . Previously marine mammalogists considered that the distribution of T. aduncus was reached in Korean waters. In 2010, Kim (2010) found that the population of Jeju Island was morphologically different from T. truncatus . Therefore, before 2010, T. truncatus in the water near Jeju Island was referred to as T. aduncus .

Conservation status: The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin was designated a Protected Marine Species in 2012 by the South Korean government.

Figures

FIGURE 101. Range map of Tursiops aduncus in Korea.