page_title: Agulhas Bank
section_title: Cetaceans
hierarchical_section_title: Agulhas Bank / Biodiversity / Cetaceans
caption_attribution_description: English: Dusky dolphin visiting at the deco stop, Hout Bay.
context_page_description: The Agulhas Bank is a broad, shallow part of the southern African continental shelf which extends up to 250 km south of Cape Agulhas before falling steeply to the abyssal plain.
  It is the ocean region where the warm Indian Ocean and the cold Atlantic Ocean meet. This convergence leads to treacherous sailing conditions, accounting for numerous wrecked ships in the area over the years. However, the meeting of the oceans here also fuels the nutrient cycle for marine life, making it one of the best fishing grounds in South Africa.
context_section_description: 51 species, or more than 50%, of the recognized species of cetaceans are present in the southern African subregion (between the equator and the Antarctic ice edge), of which 36 have been sighted in South African and Namibian waters.
  A vulnerable population of fish-eating killer whales are present offshore on the Agulhas Bank.  Observations peak in January while few are sighted in April and May.  The killer whales move in pods of 1-4 individuals and are mostly sited over the shelf edge off the south-east coast.
  An analysis of killer whale mtDNA has shown that there was a peak inter-oceanic migration events during the Eemian interglacial period, 131-114 kya.  This peak coincides with a period of maximal Agulhas leakage which promoted a rapid and episodic interchange of killer whale lineages.  During this period killer whales and other marine top predators, such as the great white shark, colonised the North Atlantic and Mediterranean by following their prey — bluefin tuna and swordfish.
  A vagrant Commerson's dolphin — a species with two isolated populations, one along the southern coast of Argentina and the other around the Kerguelen Islands — was sighted on the Agulhas Bank in 2004.  It is not known from which population the sighted individual stems.  The Kerguelen Islands are located 4,200 km (2,600 mi) and South America 6,300 km (3,900 mi) from the Agulhas Bank, but the west-ward direction of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current would force the dolphin to swim against the current from the Kerguelen Islands.
  Fossil beaked whales have been recovered by trawling from the seafloor off South Africa.  Stranded pygmy sperm whales have been recorded on both the east and west coasts of South Africa.
caption: A dusky dolphin on the Cape Peninsula west coast
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