Stranding of Marine Mammals in the Period From 2003 to 2016, in the South Ern Coast of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

Stranding is the event in which a marine animal comes ashore after death or comes and is unable to return to the sea, which may occur due to natural, spatial tendencies and anthropic actions. It occurs in many countries, several of which have created formal programs to monitor. Mammals are at the top of the food chain, suffering more from changes in the environment, which is why they indicate the quality of the ecosystem. In the southern region of Brazil, inventories of marine mammal biodiversity emerged in the 1980s. Registering stranded data makes it possible to discover important information about marine animals and the oceans. This work aimed to collect information to identify the composition and abundance of strandings of marine mammals. The studied area is located on the southern coast of Santa Catarina, between the municipality of Jaguaruna and Passo de Torres. Data refer to collections made by the Zoology Museum Morgana Cirimbelli Gaidzinski , from the University of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina (UNESC), during the period from 2003 to 2016, through third-party activations and systematic monthly monitoring. The stranding frequency in this period was 344 mammals, belonging to 15 species, 10 genera, six families and two different orders. The occurrence of rare and unpublished animals was observed, such as Balaenoptera physalus, Kogia breviceps and Arctocephalus gazela.