Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 130, October 2015, pp. 1-18. | Page 5

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Harrington Jr. (1977) mentions that the whales reported in Iranian waters are:
The Blue Whale (Sibbaldus musculus), the Humpbacked Whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae), the Finback Whale (Balaenoptera physalus) and the Bryde’s Whale
(Balaenoptera edeni). He mentioned the possibility that the Sei Whale (Balaenoptera
borealis Lesson, 1828) is also occurring in the Arabian/Persian Gulf (Harrington
Jr., 1977; Khalaf, June 1987).
Other marine mammals living in the Arabian Gulf are: The Common Dolphin
(Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, 1758), the Plumbeous Dolphin (Sousa plumbea), the
Black Finless Porpoise (Neomeris phocaenoides) and the Dugong (Dugong dugon
Müller, 1776) (Harrington Jr., 1977; Khalaf, June 1987).
Certainly, the vast numbers of fish in the Arabian Gulf are enough to support
many large cetaceans although whales are not very frequent visitors off Kuwait’s
coast. Apart from the high sea temperatures of summer, one reason could be that
the gently shelving Gulf tends to throw out their navigational abilities (Haider,
1978).

The Skeleton of the 10.5-meters Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) which stranded on
Umm Al-Maradem Island coast in Kuwait on 23.03.1978 and is displayed at the
Educational Science Museum in Kuwait. Photo by: Prof. Dr. Norman Ali Bassam Khalafvon Jaffa. 24.06.2014. https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/14671326142/
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 130 – October 2015