Korina Šlogar i
Mirta Seletković:
Estimation of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population in the Šibenik-Knin
county. Original scientific student
paper. Faculty of
Abstract
Today, the bottlenose
dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
from the order whales (Cetacea)
is the only permanently residing marine mammal in the Adriatic Sea and is
protected by Croatian law. Many biological characteristics of this species are
still unknown, as well as their population number. This study includes
sightings of 106 bottlenose dolphins during the year 2010 in Šibenik-Knin county, which include photo-identification,
counting individuals by intersections and capture-recapture. The number of
bottlenose dolphins in Šibenik-Knin county is between
40 and 80. They travel in pods of 1 to 9, on average of 4,06 individuals. Of
all the observed individuals, 35 of them have been photo-identified, and their
information has been entered into the online Adriatic Sea marine mammal
monitoring database at „crodolphin.vef.hr/crodolphin“.
These results are to be used in further research concerning bottlenose dolphins
in Šibenih-Knin county area as well as the rest of
the Adriatic Sea.