Dolphins from a prehistoric midden imply long-term philopatry of delphinids around Tokyo Bay

Abstract

Cetaceans of the family Delphinidae are widely distributed throughout the global ocean, and it has been suggested that females exhibit philopatry. However, the duration of time that a maternal group of these highly mobile creatures spends inhabiting a particular region remains unknown. The objective of this study is to examine the genetic diversity of delphinids in the past and to shed light on the above question. In this study, we amplified and sequenced the mitochondrial DNA D-loop region from the skeletal remains of delphinids that were excavated from the Shomyoji Midden, a site situated on the western coast of Tokyo Bay and dating to 5000–3000 years before the present. We acquired prehistoric D-loop sequences of seven bottlenose dolphins, six Pacific white-sided dolphins, and a false killer whale. Notably, one or more haplotypes from the prehistoric individuals were detected in the geographically proximate modern conspecific populations across all three species. Whilst the genetic diversity of prehistoric and modern Pacific white-sided dolphin populations appears to be comparable, the modern bottlenose dolphin population demonstrates significantly lower genetic diversity when compared to its prehistoric counterpart in the vicinity of Tokyo Bay. The maternal groups of these species are speculated to have persisted in the same habitat for at least 4000 years.