NOTES 1329

cetaceans. Pages 747-774 in R. S. Shomura and M. L. Godfrey, eds. Proceedings

of the Second International Conference on Marine Debris, 2-7 April 1989, Hon-
olulu, Hawaii. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum,
NMFS, NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFC-154.
WALKER, W. A., AND J. G. MEAD.1988. Preliminary report on the food habits of
Baird’s beaked whales taken off the Pacific coast of central Japan 1985-1987.
International Whaling Commission, Small Cetacean Subcommittee Document.
SC/40/SM16. 8 pp. Available from International Whaling Commision, The Red
House, Station Road, Histon, Canbridge CB4 4NP, U.K.
YAMADA, T. K. 1997. Strandings of Cetacea to the coasts of the Sea of Japan with
special reference to Mesoplodon steinegeri. International Biological Institute Report
NO. 7:9-19.
YAMADA, T. K., Y. AIZAWA, K. HOKARI, R. SAITOU AND Y. NAKAMURA. 1992. A Me-
soplodon stranded at Nou, Niigata. Nihonkai Cetology 2:33-36.
YAMADA, T. K., T. KUBODERA, Y. NAKAMURA, M. AMANO, M SUZUKI AND J. SHINDO.
1995. Stomach contents of a stranded Mesoplodon steinegeri (Ziphiidae). Nihonkai
Cetology 5 :3 1-3 6.

WILLIAM A. WALKER and M. BRADLEY HANSON, National Marine Mammal

Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service,
NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way, N.E., Seattle, Washington 90115, U.S.A.; e-
mail: [email protected]. Received 12 November 1998. Accepted 3 l De-
cember 1998.

MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, 15(4):1329-1336 (October 1999)

0 1999 by the Society for Marine Mammalogy

LONG-TERM SITE FIDELITY AND POSSIBLE LONG-TERM

ASSOCIATIONS OF WILD SPINNER DOLPHINS
(STENELLA LONGZROSTRZS) SEEN OFF OAHU, HAWAII’

Wild spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostrzs) have been studied in the Ha-
waiian Islands since the 1970s. The main focus of these studies has been the
Big Island of Hawaii (Norris and Doh1 1980; Norris et al. 1985, 1994; Ost-
man 1994; Driscoll 1995), with some study on the islands of Lanai (Ostman

’ As a man, Ken Norris was a nurturing, kind, and stimulating friend, and senior author
Marten misses him deeply. As a scientist, Dr. Ken Norris was a guiding light in spinner dolphin
research, and we would like to acknowledge him for his singular leadership, inspiration, and
foresight. Besides his quest to reveal their rich and complex natural history, Ken sought to apply
his understanding of nearshore spinners to “Help their offshore relatives,” the hundreds of thou-
sands of open-ocean dolphins (including spinners) formerly killed annually in tuna seine sets.
Authors Marten and Psarakos are proud to carry on Ken’s tradition of pursuing the vital con-
nection between science and conservation.
1330 MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, VOL. 1 5 , NO. 4, 1999

and Driscoll, unpublished data;2 Forestell, unpublished data3). Shallenberger

(1991) provided survey information for this and other cetacean species
throughout the Hawaiian islands. Data (unpublished) have also been collected
on distribution, movements, and behavior along the west and south shores of
Oahu.* This report describes identifications and possible long-term associations
of spinner dolphins sighted in 1978-1979 and again in 1995-1998 at a
resting area along the northwest coast of Oahu.
There were 275 site visits to the dolphins’ rest area in the four-year period
1995-1998; dolphins were seen underwater on 171 of the 233 visits they
were present. A swimmer, outfitted with mask, fins, and snorkel, photo-
graphed dolphins for individual identification. Most photos were taken at a
depth of three meters or less, with a Nikonos V 35-mm underwater still
camera and Kodak Ektachrome 400 color slide film. Eighteen-hundred un-
derwater slides were taken from 1995-1998, and from these a photo-ID book
of 125 known individuals was established. Identification of dolphins was
accomplished using old scars and naturally occurring irregularities in col-
oration as markers. Although each dolphin was categorized according to a
primary ID marker, such as a dorsal notch, efforts were made to photograph
the dolphins from multiple angles and to use more than one ID mark when
verifying resightings. Gender of dolphins was determined through direct
observation of the genital area.
In 1978 and 1979 Edward Shallenberger5 worked from a boat along the
western Oahu coastline, photographing spinner dolphins from above the sur-
face. We analyzed a photographic archive of approximately 300 of these spin-
ner dorsal fins.
There was one positive match (Fig. 1)between an individual from our 1990s
ID book, adult male Double Decker, and a dolphin photographed at or near
our study area by Shallenberger in 1978. (Unlike for most of our ID collection,
the 1998 photograph of Double Decker in Figure 1 was taken above water
from a boat.) Double Decker is in seven 1978 slides. In these slides, he is
clearly larger than a calf or young juvenile and appears adult-sized; we think
it is safe to say he was at least five years of age in 1979 and would therefore
be approximately 25+ yr old now. We first saw him at our field site in July
1994 and most recently saw him there in April 1999. In the four-year period
from 1995-1998, Double Decker was resighted 25 times.
Another individual, Crescent (Fig. 2a, b), has been categorized as a probable
match between a 1978 dolphin and a 1990s dolphin. Crescent is named for
the curved slope of the area across the top of the dorsal fin, which is sliced

Jan Ostman, Kula Naia Foundation, P. 0. Box 6870, Kamuela, Hawaii 96743, U.S.A.,
April 1999.
Paul H. Forestell, Social Science Division, Southampton College, Southampton, N Y 11968,
U.S.A., April 1999.
Personal communication from Marc 0. Lammers, Marine Mammal Research Program, Ha-
waii Institute of Marine Biology, P. 0. Box 1106, Kailua, HI 96734, U.S.A., April 1999.
Personal communciation from Edward Shallenberger, Route 2, Box 67C, Om&, WA 98841,
U.S.A., April 1999.
 NOTES 1331

Figure 1. Double Decker in 1978 (top) and 1998 (bottom).

1332 MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, VOL. 1 5 , NO. 4, 1999

Figwe 2. A. Crescent78, left side in 1978 (top) and Crescent in 1999 (bottom).

off horizontally. Dorsal fins with these characteristics are most likely the result
of the dolphin becoming entangled in fishing line which gradually slices
through the fin (Norris 1992). There are 17 slides from 1978-1979 of a
dolphin, referred to here as Crescent78, with a sliced-off dorsal fin. Two iden-
tifying marks bear mentioning: a small, upright portion of tissue remains at
 NOTES 1333

Figure 2. B. Crescent78, right side in 1978 (top) and Crescent in 1999 (bottom).

the top of the trailing edge of the dorsal, with a small V-shaped notch im-
mediately beneath this tip; and the bottom edge of the dark gray cape on the
dolphin’s right side, immediately beneath the dorsal, dips down to form a
shallow V-shape. In slides taken during 1995-1998 of the dolphin named
Crescent, the overall shape of the dorsal fin, as well as the dark gray cape
pattern on the right side, are highly suggestive of a match with Crescent78.
1334 MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, VOL. 1 5 , NO. 4, 1999

There is only one other dolphin in the identified Oahu population with a
sliced off dorsal fin, and thus this type of ID mark is not common enough to
expect that there would be two dolphins with so similar a fin. Continued
photo-ID will likely yield a definitive conclusion. Crescent78 is in ten slides
from November 1978 and seven slides from January 1979. In 1995-1998 we
resighted Crescent at least two and possibly six times.
A third dolphin in the 1970s slides has a low notch on the dorsal fin which
resembles the U-shaped notch of a dolphin identified by us in the 1990s,
adult male Low Notch. Although the three 1970s slides of this dolphin do
not have enough information on them to confirm this as a resighting, the
possibility of it is mentioned here because Low Notch, resighted 33 times in
1995-1998, is currently known to associate with Double Decker.
Boat and photo logs for the 1978-1979 slides were not available, so we
did not know which individual slides and slide rolls corresponded with new
dolphin groups or new boat trips. We therefore examined how these three
dolphins appeared in the three slide rolls from 1978-1979 for indications of
possible associations. We determined whether they were on the same slide roll
or not, and if so, their order and proximity to each other on the roll. Double
Decker and Crescent78 are pictured together in one 1978 slide. They appear
in separate slides throughout the two November 1978 rolls; there are three
sequences where slides of them are next to each other on the roll. There are
not enough 1970s slide data for the dolphin with the low notch to determine
1978-1979 associations and relate them to 1995-1998 associations; however,
it is worth noting that Crescent78 and the dolphin with the low notch both
appear on the January 1979 roll, although never in the same or sequential
slides.
During the course of our research, numerous dolphins, including a group
of seven known adult males who have been seen repeatedly swimming with
or near Double Decker, have been resighted; this association data will be the
subject of a future report. In the four-year period from 1995-1998, Double
Decker, Crescent, and Low Notch were observed in the same subgroup once
(where a subgroup is defined as a distinct, separate, recognizable cluster of
animals within the larger group as a whole; Norris et al. 1994). Low Notch
and Double Decker were observed in the same subgroup eight times.
The most significant result from this study to date is the finding that at
least one, and possibly up to three, individuals from the current population
of spinner dolphins off northwest Oahu also lived in the same area in 1978-
1979. This represents a longer longitudinal look at this species than in pre-
vious studies and suggests great site tenacity for at least some spinners in this
kind of nearshore habitat. These results are comparable to the site fidelity
found in three long-term studies of spinner dolphins in coastal waters: Norris
et al. (1994) and Ostman (1994) along the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii,
and Poole (1995) off the island of Moorea in the Society Islands. Several
identified individuals have been resighted consistently throughout the 12 yr
 NOTES 1335

of the Moorea study.6 Other reports of long-term site fidelity and affiliations
include a variety of small delphinids such as Atlantic spotted dolphins (Steneffa
frontalis) in the Bahamas (Herzing 1997), killer whales (Orcznus orca) in John-
stone Strait, British Columbia (Bigg et af. 1987), bottlenose dolphins (Tgrsiops
truncatus) in Sarasota Bay, Florida (Wells et af. 1980, Wells 1986) and Argen-
tina (Wiirsig and Harris 1990), and Indian Ocean bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops
adunczls) in western Australia (Conner and Smolker 1985).
There is suggestive evidence of a long-term social relationship of at least
20 yr between 25+-yr-old spinner dolphins. Dolphins appearing on the same
1978-1979 slide rolls have a high probability of having been in the same
group on a given boat trip; the closer together they are on a roll, the greater
this probability, as well as the likelihood they were traveling near each other
and thus in the same subgroup. Our examination of the slide data thus in-
dicates a possibility for associations between at least two and possibly three of
these dolphins. 1978 slide data and 1995-1998 sighting data indicate that
Double Decker and Crescent78/Crescent were in the same subgroup together
both in 1978 and the 1990s. Because of the relative infrequency of 1990s
Crescent sightings, it is possible that the association with Crescent is not a
primary one, but one of the many short-term, repeated affiliations these so-
cially fluid animals maintain over time (Norris and Doh1 1980, Norris et af.
1994). If the 1970s dolphin with the low notch is indeed 1990s Low Notch,
then the possible 1970s association between him and Crescent78 is consistent
with the 1990s sighting of him traveling in a subgroup with Double Decker
and Crescent.
The authors request that any researchers with photographic records of spin-
ner dolphins taken around the island of Oahu before 1990 please contact them
to arrange for viewing of the images.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Ken Norris for his inspiration and foresight. Ed
Shallenberger generously provided 300 1978-79 spinner dorsal fin slides for compar-
ison. The research could not have been conducted without the insightful support of
BHP Hawaii, Inc., the Bauer Foundation, the Castle Foundation, the Geraldine R.
Dodge Foundation, the Homeland Foundation, the Sarah E. Stewart Foundation, and
Vet-Sal Inc. KodaFLos Angeles and Dr. Stefan Harzen donated Kodak slide film. Bernd
Wursig and Jan Ostman-Lind reviewed the manuscript. Barbara Brunnick and Jan
Ostman-Lind reviewed photographic ID data. We are grateful to the many wonderful
people who have donated time or resources to this research, including Denise Herzing,
Kerri D a d , Darshan Wright, Risa Daniels, and Karen Sayles. Me1 Auwae, JJ Sheeran,
John Kahele, and Mona Makua provided valuable assistance in the field. This research
is being conducted under National Marine Fisheries Service General Authorization
Permit for scientific research, No. 13, File No. GA19A.

Personal communication from Michael Poole, Marine Mammal Research Programme, Centre
de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de I’Environnement (CRIOBE), B.P. 1013, Moorea,
French Polynesia.
1336 MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, VOL. 15, NO. 4, 1999

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