COMMON BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN (Tursiops truncatus truncatus): Western North Atlantic Southern Migratory Coastal Stock STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Geographic Range and Coastal Morphotype Habitat

The coastal morphotype of common bottlenose dolphins is continuously distributed along the Atlantic coast south of Long Island, New York, around the Florida peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. Based on differences in mitochondrial DNA haplotype frequencies, coastal animals in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the western North Atlantic represent separate stocks (Rosel et al. 2009; Duffield and Wells 2002). On the Atlantic coast, Scott et al. (1988) hypothesized a single coastal migratory stock ranging seasonally from as far north as Long Island, to as far south as central Florida, citing stranding patterns during a high mortality event in 1987-1988 and observed density patterns. More recent studies demonstrate that the single coastal migratory stock hypothesis is incorrect, and there is instead a complex mosaic of stocks residing in coastal waters of the western North Atlantic (Rosel et al. 2009; McLellan et al. 2003). The coastal morphotype is morphologically and genetically distinct from the larger, more robust morphotyp