Seventy-nine species of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) are found worldwide. Twenty-eight species af whales and dolphins are now known to occur in tH Gulf of Mexico, from the coastal zone species such as t e familiar bottlenose dolphin to the deep-diving sperm whale (porpoises are not known to exis in the Gulf). These highly specialized groups of marine mammals • can be found in the deep, central waters of the Gulf of Mexico. For example, it is now known that sperm whales are remarkably common in the Gulf and that calving may occur there as well. Cetaceans are gener­ally divided into two major groups: the baleen whales, which catch their food by straining large mouthfuls of water containing plankton or small fish, and the toothed cetaceans, whales and dolphins, which capture fish and squid.

The Gulf of Mexico is home to thousands of whales and dolphins and also supports a large number of human activities that have the potential to affect these animals. Tremendous amounts of shipping traffic pass through the Gulf; there are also gas and oil activities, shrimping and fishing, and military operations.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) supports comprehensive studies on the distribution, abundance, and be­havior of the offshore whales and dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico. The MMS also funds studies looking at the possible effects of human activities on marine mammals. This information, combined with data that continue to be collected, will ensure that MMS has the information needed to prevent and regulate the potential impacts to marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico.

Minerals Management Service (MMS), a bureau within the U.S.

of the Interior, pur­sues research on cetaceans as a

part of its responsibility to man­age the leasing, exploration,

development, and production of gas, oil and mineral resources

from submerged Federal lands in an environmentally sound manner. . laws protect the ·roIlmEmt;

marine mammals are protected by Marine Mammal Protection Act

some, such as the sperm whale, are covered by the Endangered Species Act.

- Pan·tropical spotted dolphin Stenella attenuata

- Spinner dolphin Stenella longirostris

- Fraser's dolphin Lagenodelphis hosei ~ l:!hort-lllnned pilot whale

Globicephala macrorhynchus False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens

- Melon-headed whale Peponocephala electra

- Blainville's beaked whale Mesoplodon densirostris

- Gervais' beaked whale Mesoplodon europaeus

- Sowerby's beaked whale Mesoplodon bidens

- Minke whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata

- Northern right whale Eubalaena glacialis*

- Sei whale Balaenoptera borealis·

- Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus*

- Fin whale Balaenoptera physalus*

* Protected by the Endangered Species Act

September 1995