Pygmy Killer Whales Spotted Off CA For 1st Time Ever; Other Tropical Marine Mammals Showing Up

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Olson and the rest of her team soon knew they were watching pygmy killer whales, members of the dolphin family never recorded by survey scientists in California waters and – despite their name – not considered dangerous. The team then got into an inflatable boat and used a crossbow fitted with a small biopsy dart to collect a skin sample of a dolphin. The samples allow the scientists to learn more about the species, its population and gender.

The pygmy killer whales were hardly the only unusual sightings for scientists during a four-month cruise of the California coast, where they monitored the appearances of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and birds on the Pacific Ocean. Sei and Blainville’s beaked whales along with band-rumped storm-petrels and loggerhead sea turtles were among the atypical sightings reported during the survey, which began Aug. 5 and ended Dec. 9.

The cruise included five separate legs, with different groups of scientists boarding at each leg to study the California current, which stretches from the Canadian to the Mexican borders.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla has conducted the marine mammal surveys along the California coast every three to six years since 1991 and along the West Coast since 1996. The last survey occurred in 2008, said Lisa Ballance, director of the center’s marine mammal and turtle division.

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http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article4473722.html