HABITAT USE OF THE ESTUARINE DOLPHIN, SOTALIA GUIANENSIS (VAN BÉNÉDEN, 1864), IN THE CARAVELAS ESTUARY, EASTERN BRAZIL

Introdution Cetacean distribution has been related to a variety of environmental variables such as depth and ocean bottom relief (Hui, 1979), water temperature and salinity (Selzer & Payne, 1988), and others. Particularly, for the estuarine dolphin, Sotalia guianensis (van Bénéden, 1864), classified as “Data Deficient” (Ibama, 2003), some studies linked behavior and tidal state (Araujo et al. 2001, Hayes et al. 1999), behavior and environmental daily and seasonal cycles (Daura-Jorge et al. 2005), occurrence and distance from the coast (Edwards & Schnell, 2001). Despite these studies, the knowledge about how distinct environment features influence the estuarine dolphin spatial use is still scarce. The present study aims to describe physical habitat use patterns for the estuarine dolphins in the Caravelas River estuary and adjacent waters, eastern coast of Brazil.

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