Greetings, >From a review of the literature, it appears only right whales and sperm whales >typically float upon death. I'm looking for information on whether freshly >dead dwarf or pygmy sperm whales (Kogia) sink or float upon death, to try to >interpret stranding patterns of Kogia in Hawaii. Stranded animals are often >found dead on the beach, but the question is whether these animals live >stranded and died before being found, moved into shallow water before dying >(so that if they did die and sink immediately, the carcasses might re-float >after decomposition sets in), or if they may have died offshore, floated, and >were washed in to the beach? I assume that if animals die in deep water but >sink, they are unlikely to re-float (see Allison et al. 1991). If anyone has >experience with live strandings or net entanglements of Kogia, where animals >are returned to the water but succumb or are disposed of at sea after death, >or have other experience that may be relevant, please let me know.
Thanks very much, Robin Allison, P.A., C.R. Smith, H. Kukert, J.W. Deming, and B.A. Bennett. 1991. Deep-water taphonomy of vertebrate carcasses: a whale skeleton in the bathyal Santa Catalina Basin. Paleobiology 17:78-89. ======================================================== Robin W. Baird, Ph.D. Research Biologist Cascadia Research Collective 218 1/2 W. 4th Avenue Olympia, WA 98501 USA Phone 1-360-943-7325 Fax 1-360-943-7026 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.cascadiaresearch.org/robin/robin.htm
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