Tethys Research Institute north-western Mediterranean, within the waters of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals. This ongoing project focuses on the ecology and conservation of the cetacean fauna occurring in the area, which includes the fin whale ("Balaenoptera physalus"), the sperm whale ("Physeter macrocephalus"), the long-finned pilot whale ("Globicephala melas"), the Risso’s dolphin ("Grampus griseus"), the Cuvier's beaked whale ("Ziphius cavirostris"), the striped dolphin ("Stenella coeruleoalba"), the common bottlenose dolphin and, to a lesser extent, the short-beaked common dolphin ("Delphinus delphis"). The study area extends over about 24,000 km encompassing coastal, slope and deep pelagic waters between continental Italy, France and the
USS Delphinus (AF-24) USS Delphinus (AF-24) USS Delphinus (AF-24) was built in 1915 as by Workman Clark and Co., Ltd., Belfast, Northern Ireland; acquired by the U.S. Navy 11 August 1942; and commissioned the same day as "San Mateo", Lieutenant O. M. Mikkelsen, USNR, in command. She was assigned the name "Delphinus" on 22 August 1942. Departing San Francisco, California, 12 September 1942, "Delphinus" arrived at Auckland, New Zealand, 4 October. She operated from this base until the end of 1945, carrying chilled and frozen provisions to forward bases in the South Pacific and to the Society, Fiji, and Samoan Islands. After calling