Order: Cetacea.

Family: Delphinidae

Size: Length- male 20 ft (6 m); female 15 ft (4.5m)

Weight: 1500 lb (700 kg)

Key Features: Species is slender and long bodied. Its blunt head is small, relative to body size. Lower jaw tip is usually well behind the overhanging upper jaw. Dorsal fin is tall, may be rounded at the tip or sharply pointed also known as cucumber shaped; small flippers are narrow and pointed and have a broad hump on the front margin near the middle, characteristic of the species. Body is black with a blaze of grey on the chest between the flippers and an area of light grey may be present on the sides of the head. There are 8 or 11 pairs of large, conspicuous teeth of circular cross-section in each jaw.

Voice: Species make audible, drawn-out, high-pitched sounds that can be heard above water. This allows them to be detected at distances of 200 m, sometimes above the sound of outboard engines.

Breeding: Single calf born about every 7 yrs; gestation period range from 14 to16 months. Lactation occurs for about 18 months to two years. May live up to 63 yrs in the wild

Diet: Large fish, cephalopods, occasionally small cetaceans, humpback and sperm whales

Habitat: They are known to be oceanic animals, not commonly seen near land, except where deep water is close by.

Habits: They are gregarious animals. The tendency of the species, like that of other ‘blackfish’, to mass-strand has allowed their anatomy and other aspects of their biology to be studied well.

Conservation Status: Species listed as ‘data deficient’ on IUCN red list.

Distribution in Gujarat: False Killer Whale usually prefers deep waters like that of Saurashtra and South Gujarat Coast, the last recorded specimen dates back to August 1978 from Gulf of Cambay (Khambhat) near Navsari.19 They have been recorded from coastal region of neighbouring Pakistan and is listed in ZSI’s marine mammal list.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

• Sathasivam, K. (2004). Marine Mammals of India. Universities Press (India) private limited. Hyderabad. Pp: 40

• Marine Mammals Facts Courtesy: Animal Fact Files- Mammals. The Brown Reference Group Plc.