Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-rkzlw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-06T17:58:29.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interaction between killer whales (Orcinus orca) and a leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) off the north-eastern coast of Venezuela

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Lenin Oviedo ,
María Alejandra Esteves ,
Estefanía Alfe ,
Romina Acevedo  and
Jaime Bolaños-Jiménez
Lenin Oviedo*
Affiliation:
Proyecto Delphinus, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela Proyecto Golfo de la Ballena, Biotrópica, Caracas, Venezuela
María Alejandra Esteves
Affiliation:
Proyecto Delphinus, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela
Estefanía Alfe
Affiliation:
Proyecto Delphinus, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela
Romina Acevedo
Affiliation:
Proyecto Golfo de la Ballena, Biotrópica, Caracas, Venezuela
Jaime Bolaños-Jiménez
Affiliation:
Sociedad Ecológica Venezolana Vida Marina (Sea Vida), AP 162, Cagua, Estado Aragua, 2122 Venezuela
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Lenin Oviedo, Proyecto Delphinus, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela email: biotropica2@yahoo.com
Get access

Abstract

The presence of Orcinus orca in Venezuelan waters has remained somewhat unclear. On 15 April 2007 a group of three killer whales was recorded on video interacting with a leatherback turtle off north-eastern Venezuela. This report is based on an extensive review of the original video taken during the sighting event and a detailed interview with the observers. This record of killer whales interacting with Dermochelys coriacea, as well as opportunistic sightings recorded in photographs between 2001 and 2008, represent the most solid confirmation of the species occurrence in Venezuelan territorial waters.

Keywords

killer whaleleatherback turtlesightinginteractionvideonorth-eastern coast of Venezuela

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 2 , January 2009 , e51
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Acevedo Galindo, R. (2001) Distribución y caracterización de hábitat de cetáceos marinos en Venezuela. PhD thesis, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.Google Scholar
Acevedo Galindo, R. (2007) Potencial distribution of seven species of marine cetaceans reported in Venezuela, southeast Caribbean. Acta Zoologica Sinica 58, 853–864.Google Scholar
Baird, R., McSweeney, D.J., Bane, C., Barlow, J., Salden, D.R., Antoine, L.K., LeDuc, R.G. and Webster, D.L. (2006) Killer whales in Hawaiian waters: information on population identity and feeding habits. Pacific Science 60, 523–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolaños, J. and Boher, S. (1996) Lista actualizadas de cetáceos de Venezuela. Natura 106, 51–53.Google Scholar
Bolaños-Jiménez, J., Fertl, D. and Iñíguez, M. (2008) Killer whale (Orcinus orca) occurrence in Venezuelan waters, 2001–2008. Paper IWC/60/SC/SM8 presented to the International Whaling Commission, Santiago de Chile, June 2008.Google Scholar
Caldwell, D.K. and Caldwell, M.C. (1969) Addition of the leatherback sea turtle to the known prey of the killer whale, Orcinus orca. Journal of Mammalogy 50, 636.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fertl, D. and Fulling, G.L. (2007) Interaction between marine mammals and turtles. Marine Turtle Newsletter 115, 4–8.Google Scholar
Pitman, R.L. and Dutton, P.H. (2004) Killer whale predation on a leatherback turtle in the northeast Pacific. Pacific Science 58, 497–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodríguez, E., Acosta, R., Pérez, C., Urdaneta, T., Parada, M., Cabezas, E., Fuenmayor, S., Arrieche, D., Gómez, L., Bong, J., Viloria, A. and Duarte, M. (1993) Orcinus orca (Linnaeus), 1758 (Cetacea: Delphinidae) en la costa norte del estado Zulia, Venezuela. Anartia 4, 1–8.Google Scholar
Romero, A., Agudo, A.I., Green, S.M. and Nobartolo di Sciara, G. (2001) Cetaceans of Venezuela: their distribution and conservation status. US Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Report no. NMFS 151, 60 pp.Google Scholar
Sarti, M.L., Flores, O.L. and Aguayo, L.A. (1994) Evidence of predation of killer whale (Orcinus orca) on a leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in Michoacan, Mexico. Revista de Investigación Científica de la Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur 2, 23–26.Google Scholar