Abstract

(…) Our understanding of cetacean diving behavior has recently increased (Westgate et al. 1995, Heide-Jorgensen and Dietz 1995, Davis et al. 1996). However, there are few reports which measured swim speed of free-ranging cetaceans (Hanson and Baird 1998). Measurement of swim speed during diving helps to understand the dive function (Boyd et al. 1995, Crocker et al. 1997) and the swimming effort or energetics (Feldkamp 1987). We report here the first record of the diving behavior and swimming speed of a free-ranging harbor porpoise. (…)