Abstract
Records of vagrant marine organisms provide important information on oceanographic anomalies and the changing environment. We report on an immature Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddellii, sighted at Calheta Beach in Trindade Island (20°31′S 29°19′W), Brazil, on July 9, 2015. A number of injuries were noted, including blisters on the dorsal surface of the body and a small cut at the right-hand side distal portion of the mandible. Based on its size and the state of fusion of cranial sutures, we suggest that it was born in the 2014 austral spring and was possibly 8–10 months old. We suggest that it comes from the South Shetland Islands, Antarctic Peninsula. This is the closest breeding location of this species. This sighting is the northernmost of L. weddellii, being at least ~ 5140 km from the Antarctic Peninsula (63°12′S 55°04′W) and ~ 2840 km north from the second northernmost sighting of this species in Uruguay.
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Acknowledgements
We are thankful to Joel Braga for providing images of the live stranding and the animal size information, and the Brazilian Navy for logistical support for the recovery of the skeleton. Special thanks to Dr. Greg Hofmeyr for his comments and suggestions that improved considerably this manuscript. Many thanks to Msc. Maurício Tavares for comments and suggestions on early drafts. Financial and logistical support to the Projects: “A Fauna de Odontocetos no Brasil, Biogeografia e Taxonomia: Subsídios para a Conservação” (processes 557182/2009-3 and 404558/2012-7) was provided by “Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq) and Brazilian Navy, respectively. GF was supported by a PhD fellowship from “Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior” (CAPES) (2015–2018). VLH was supported by an undergraduate scholarship from PROPESQ/UFRGS (2015–2016). This is a contribution of the Research Group “Evolução e Biodiversidade de Cetáceos/CNPq”.
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Frainer, G., Heissler, V.L. & Moreno, I.B. A wandering Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) at Trindade Island, Brazil: the extreme sighting of a circumpolar species. Polar Biol 41, 579–582 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2218-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-017-2218-9