Abstract

(…) The spectacled porpoise, Phocoena dioptrica (Lahille, 1912), is a little-known species found in cool temperate, sub- and low-antarctic waters of the Southern Hemisphere (Jefferson et al. 1993, Goodall and Schiavini 1995). Numerous beached-washed and entangled specimens have been recorded from the southern South American region (Hamilton 1941, Fraser 1968, Goodall 1978, Goodall and Cameron 1980, Crespo et al. 1994, Goodall et al. 1994, Goodall and Schiavini 1995), but few have been noted elsewhere. In the Australasian region, specimens have been recorded from the Auckland Islands (Baker 1977), Macquarie Island (Fordyce et al. 1984), Heard Island (Brownell et al. 1989), and New Zealand’s South Island. Few soft tissues have been collected and, as a result, very little is known about the natural history of this species. Only four previous live strandings have been recorded, three from southern South America (Goodall and Schiavini 1995) and a 135-cm male from New Zealand. At-sea sightings are seldom recorded, but have been made in the waters off the south coast of South America (Jefferson et al. 1993), south of New Zealand (Baker 1990), the Kerguelen Islands (Frost and Best 1976), and in the southern Pacific Ocean (Kasamatsu et al. 1990). This paper reports on two recent strandings on the south coast of Australia. (…)