https://doi.org/10.82144/38a4ba2c https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/464 https://www.gbif.org/dataset/b9884b38-e184-4b4f-a786-2b1b021b2125 https://obis.org/dataset/c75e8721-083c-47cf-8d85-66a171f91cb5 William McLellan University of North Carolina Wilmington Primary contact mclellanw@uncw.edu OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu OBIS-SEAMAP Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab, Duke University

A328 LSRC building Durham NC 27708 US

seamap-contact@duke.edu https://seamap.env.duke.edu distributor William McLellan University of North Carolina Wilmington Primary contact mclellanw@uncw.edu owner 2025-07-31 eng Original provider: University of North Carolina, Wilmington Dataset credits: William A. McLellan, University of North Carolina Wilmington Abstract: These surveys were designed to monitor North Atlantic right whales (<i>Eubalaena glacialis</i>) in the south Atlantic Bight and mid-Atlantic, from the North Carolina (NC)-South Carolina (SC) border, north across the Chesapeake Bay mouth, to the southern tip of Cape Charles, Virginia, United States. The contract period began in January 2008 with surveys flown from February to June 2008. A total of 14 North Atlantic right whales were observed during this aerial survey period, with 12 of the 14 whales sighted between the SC-NC border to Cape Hatteras, NC. Two of the 14 right whales observed were just north of Cape Hatteras, NC. In addition to right whales, two other endangered large whale species were observed. Two humpback whales (<i>Megaptera novaeangliae</i>) in two separate sightings during early March, and 20 sperm whales (<i>Physeter macrocephalus</i>) in 12 separate sightings were observed during these aerial surveys. Unidentified beaked whales (Family Ziphiidae), short-finned pilot whales (<i>Globicephala macrorhynchus</i>), common dolphins (<i>Delphinus delphis</i>), spotted dolphins (<i>Stenella frontalis</i>), bottlenose dolphins (<i>Tursiops truncatus</i>), and unidentified delphinids (Family Delphinidae) were also observed during the aerial survey period. An unconfirmed beaked whale was observed in early February, and a confirmed beaked whale (species ID is still being debated) was observed in mid-June, both offshore near Cape Hatteras, NC. The threatened loggerhead sea turtle <i>Caretta caretta</i> (1,455 individuals in 937 sightings), the endangered leatherback sea turtle <i>Dermochelys coriacea</i> (4 individuals in 4 sightings), and unidentified sea turtles (615 individuals in 187 sightings) were also observed in this study. Occurrence GBIF Dataset Type Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_type.xml Observation GBIF Dataset Subtype Vocabulary: http://rs.gbif.org/vocabulary/gbif/dataset_subtype.xml Marine Biology Visual sighting Aircraft Sightings N/A This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/464 Oceans -78.352004 -74.856911 37.070541 33.398109 2008-02-02 2008-06-14 Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). species Caretta caretta Loggerhead sea turtle species Cetorhinus maximus Basking shark family Cheloniidae Sea turtles class Chondrichthyes Cartilaginous fishes family Delphinidae Dolphins species Delphinus delphis Short-beaked common dolphin species Dermochelys coriacea Leatherback sea turtle species Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic right whale species Globicephala macrorhynchus Short-finned pilot whale family Hyperoodontidae Beaked whales species Manta birostris Atlantic manta species Megaptera novaeangliae Humpback whale species Mola mola Ocean sunfish species Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale species Rhinoptera bonasus Cownose ray species Stenella frontalis Atlantic spotted dolphin species Tursiops truncatus Common bottlenose dolphin notPlanned William McLellan University of North Carolina Wilmington Primary contact mclellanw@uncw.edu NA NA NA William McLellan owner NA zd_464 2025-07-31T14:17:51-04:00 dataset McLellan, W. 2018. UNCW Right Whale Aerial Surveys 2008. Version 1.4.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/38a4ba2c. OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page UTF-8 Interactive map https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/464 FGDC Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/464/fgdc EML Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/464/eml OBIS-SEAMAP zd_464 zd_464