Globicephala macrorhynchus Gray, 1846 —Short-finned Pilot Whale

Globicephalus macrorhynchus Gray, 1846 p.33; Type locality- South Seas .

Globicephalus sieboldii Gray, 1846 p.32; Type locality- Japan.

Globicephalus scammonii Cope, 1869 p.21; Type locality- Coast of lower California and Mexico.

Globicephala sieboldii: Kuroda, 1938 p.19 .

Globicephala scammonii: Kuroda, 1938 p.19 .

Globicephala macrorhynchus: Kim et al., 2000 p.90; Kim, 2004 p.240.

Range: Short-finned pilot whales seldom visit Korean waters (Fig. 94). One group of 12 G. macrorhynchus was observed around Dok-Island, East Sea in 2004 (Cetacean Research Institute 2007). Three short-finned pilot whales appeared but one of them (probably a calf) stranded on Jeju Island, and the calf was rescued in August 2008 (Yang 2010). The same three moved to the Yellow Sea and died on a beach and mud flat at Chungcheongnam Province in September 2008 (Yang 2010).

Remarks: Two geographic forms of short-finned pilot whales with different external and cranial morphology reside off northern and southern Japan (Rice 1998). Their exact taxonomic status remains uncertain, despite differences in size, morphology, DNA and breeding cycles (Shirihai & Jarrett 2006). So far, the short-finned pilot whale is considered a monotypic species (Mead & Brownell 2005).