A female marine mammal believed to belong to the Kogia genus has stranded alive at Atiteti Fishing Community in the Volta Region, in an incident the Keta Ramsar Centre says could be significant for marine-mammal conservation in Ghana.
The animal was reported by fisherman Martin Agboado on Thursday (October 1) prompting a response from a Keta Ramsar Centre team led by Executive Director Rex Bright Mawunyo Adzagba.
The animal, measuring about 234 centimetres in length and 73 centimetres in girth, was severely debilitated, had visible external wounds and could not maintain effective swimming.
The team returned it to the sea, but it resurfaced about 200 metres from the original stranding point. Given its condition, further intervention was considered unlikely to resolve the underlying problem, and the animal was left in the care of the local community and traditional authorities for customary rituals and burial.
The centre identified the animal at genus level as Kogia sp., commonly known as a pygmy or dwarf sperm whale.
It said the two recognised species—Kogia breviceps and Kogia sima—are difficult to distinguish externally, and the animal could not be confidently identified to species level in the field.
The centre said confirmed Kogia records from Ghanaian waters are limited and stressed the importance of prompt reporting of marine-mammal strandings by coastal communities to support conservation and scientific documentation.
