https://doi.org/10.82144/4c42c88d https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/829 https://www.gbif.org/dataset/642ab4a1-21e9-4ec8-b03f-9ccd2f8e7721 https://obis.org/dataset/125415a6-c5b8-4c81-9050-324deb4a0e5a Andreia Sousa Escola de Mar Primary contact andreiagss@gmail.com 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 Andreia Sousa Escola de Mar Primary contact andreiagss@gmail.com owner ACCOBAMS and WDCS The Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) and Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) http://www.accobams.org/ originator 2025-07-31 eng Original provider: Escola de Mar Dataset credits: Escola de Mar Abstract: Large whale strandings have always been intriguing to people through the centuries. The size and strangeness of these events always attracted popular attention and were, later on, a source for food, oil and other products. Our goal was to document species occurrence over time along the mainland coast of Portugal through the use of historical records as they can provide useful information on cetaceans' species. A total of 38 historical records from the 16th to the 20th Centuries were collected from several Portuguese institutes and personal archives. Results show an increasing awareness of the scientific importance of strandings reflected throughout the years in number and in the detail of the strandings. The most common stranded species recorded was <i>Physeter macrocephalus</i> followed by <i>Balaenoptera physalus</i>. Even though historical stranding records are sparse for mainland Portugal, the information gathered indicates a high diversity of cetaceans. We also addressed the evolution of the historical records in aspects such as in number of records, description detail, pictures' content and scientific accuracy. We were able to establish relationships linking strandings, local fishing communities, the general public, and particularly the contribution of early 20th Century zoologists. Results indicate that reports made by local fishing communities and the role of naturalists and science journals of the 19th and early 20th Centuries was of considerable relevance to the present knowledge about cetaceans, giving an important contribution to modern day cetacean studies. 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 Land-based Sightings N/A Records did not include time information, so 00:00:00 was used and noted in the [Notes] column. When records did not include month and/or day information, January was used to fill the month and 1 was used to fill the day and noted in the [Notes] column. One record did not have latitude/longitude information, so the center of the Portugal coast was used and noted in the [Notes] column. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License. https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/829 Oceans -9.480948 -8.105092 41.482948 37.066675 1525-12-31 1977-09-10 Scientific names are based on the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). species Balaenoptera acutorostrata Common minke whale species Balaenoptera physalus Fin whale order Cetacea Cetaceans species Delphinus delphis Short-beaked common dolphin genus Globicephala Pilot whales species Grampus griseus Risso's dolphin species Kogia breviceps Pygmy sperm whale species Phocoena phocoena Harbor porpoise species Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale species Pseudorca crassidens False killer whale species Stenella coeruleoalba Striped dolphin species Tursiops truncatus Common bottlenose dolphin species Ziphius cavirostris Cuvier's beaked whale Our objective was to document cetacean species presence over time along the mainland coast of Portugal through the use of historical written records of strandings. We will also address the evolution of the historical records in different perspectives such as the description detail, image content and scientific accuracy. When possible we will establish relationships between strandings and local fishing communities and the general public, with a particular focus on the contribution of early zoologists. This study shows historical relationships between these stranded animals and people, and is relevant both to the history of science as well as giving an important contribution to modern day cetacean studies. notPlanned Andreia Sousa Escola de Mar Primary contact andreiagss@gmail.com NA NA NA Andreia Sousa owner NA zd_829 2025-07-31T15:49:46-04:00 dataset Sousa, A. 2012. Historical strandings of cetaceans on the Portuguese coast. Version 1.0.0. Dataset published in OBIS-SEAMAP. https://doi.org/10.82144/4c42c88d. OBIS-SEAMAP Dataset Page UTF-8 Interactive map https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/829 FGDC Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/829/fgdc EML Metadata UTF-8 XML https://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/829/eml OBIS-SEAMAP zd_829 zd_829 Sousa, A. and C. Brito. 2012. Historical strandings of cetaceans on the Portuguese coast: anecdotes, people and naturalists. Marine Biodiversity Records: 5:1-8.