New record of southern right whale dolphin, Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépède, 1804), in coastal waters of Brazil

Abstract

Abstract The southern right whale dolphin, Lissodelphis peronii (Lacépède, 1804), is a species of cetacean that is distributed in cold and deep waters throughout the Southern Hemisphere, with records in coastal waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean being extremely rare and difficult to confirm. In 2019, a recording was made of a specimen, still alive, entangled in a beachside fishing gillnet at Cardoso Beach (-28.6073844°S, -48.8247058°W), in the state of Santa Catarina, on the southern coast of Brazil. The recording was made by a lifeguard using a GoPro camera, made available through citizen science. The animal was untangled and released while still alive, and was not found stranded again after the date of the event. Based on existing literature, this is the second record of the species in Brazilian waters. Analyzing meteorological and oceanographic features from the days preceding the record, it was not possible to make any association between the stranding and the variables analyzed, and it was most likely the record of an individual disoriented due to unknown factors.