Commerson's dolphin Cephalorhynchus commersonii (Lacépède, 1804)

Abstract

Commerson's dolphin was first described by Lacépède in 1804, based on the observations of Philibert Commerson. During Bougainville's voyage around the world, Commerson saw dolphins with shiny white bodies and black extremities in the Strait of Magellan and near Tierra del Fuego in December 1767. He sent a diagnosis of dolphins in a letter to G. L. Leclerc (Comte de Buffon), who forwarded it to B. Lacépède (Comte de Lacépède). Lacépède published a short description, which in the absence of a specimen, is regarded as the type of Delphinus commersonii.