Pinniped (Carnivora, Phocidae) occurrences in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic)

Abstract Background The last Pinniped species update was in 2010, as part of the list of the terrestrial and marine biota from the Azores. This list includes a chapter dedicated to marine mammals, based on previously published bibliography. New information No new species were added since that list was publlished. However, there were new occurrences since the last update.


Introduction
The last list of pinniped occurrences in the Azores (Fig. 1) dates back to 2010 (Prieto and Silva 2010). Pinniped confirmed sightings are shown (Fig. 2). Since then, no new species were recorded for the Archipelago, but there were sporadic occurrences, mostly from grey seals, Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius, 1791(Fabricius, ) in 2011(Fabricius, , 2012(Fabricius, and 2017. The most recently confirmed sighting was a Harp Seal Pagophilus groenlandicus (Erxleben, 1777), in August 2020 (Figs 3,4), that appeared on Faial and Pico Islands. This summer vagrant is an unusual occurrence and the individual died after a week from first being seen.  Distributions of the Phocidae species sightings within Azores Archipelago.
After the extinction of the Azorean Monk seal colonies, Monachus monachus (Hermann, 1779), species that is classified by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species) as endangered (see Table 1), in the early 17 century (see discussion in Silva et al. 2009), all seal occurrences in the Azores are from arctic and subarctic species, although a few reports raise the possibility that Monk seals travelling from Madeira to be occasional vagrants in these waters, due to the central location of the Archipelago in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 1).

General description
Purpose: Consolidation and updating of Pinniped records in the Azores Archipelago, through the publication of the species list in GBIF (Barcelos and Barreiros 2022b), accompanied by the information available on these occurrence records.
These records are from previously published data (Silva et al. 2009, Prieto and and from unpublished data provided by RACA -Rede de Arrojamento de Cetáceos dos Açores.

Project description
Title: AZORESBIOPORTAL -PORBIOTA in Terceira Island and included also the collaboration with researchers from the CIBIO-Azores, based in the formerly Dept. of Biology of the Univ. of Azores (currently School of Sciences & Technology) and more recently researchers from OKEANUS-DOP in Horta. At this moment, the Portal is being funded by the Azorean Science Ministry (Azores PO 2020 -ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072). The main ABP action lines are to:improve the informatics system of the e-infrastructure to allow complex queries and improve user-friendliness -guarantee a rigorous classification for every species, providing updated comprehensive checklists, ensuring accuracy on the compilation of biogeographical information; this is the backbone of the Portal and all its products and services -provide innovative biodiversity analytical tools for both researchers and community members and invite them to contribute data to the Portal, establishing effective science communication. Open access will be supported by the project FCT-UIDB/00329/2020-2024 (Thematic Line 1 -integrated ecological assessment of environmental change on biodiversity).

Description: Azores EEZ
Sampling description: Sightings of live or stranded animals in shore or coastal areas of the Azores Archipelago.
Step description: Taxonomic identification and records for all available information.

Geographic coverage
Description: Azores EEZ geodeticDatum The ellipsoid, geodetic datum or spatial reference system (SRS), upon which the geographic coordinates given in decimalLatitude and decimalLongitude are based. country The name of the country or major administrative unit, in which the Location occurs. island The name of the island on or near which the Location occurs. locality The specific description of the place.

establishmentMeans
The process by which the biological individual(s) represented in the Occurrence became established at the location.

Additional information
The data were provided by Rede de Arrojamento de Cetáceos dos Açores (RACA-DRAM-RAA).