Short-finned Pilot Whales are typically found in deep waters over the outer continental shelf or continental slope and are generally nomadic although resident or at least semi-resident populations have been documented in Hawaii (Van Cise et al. 2017), the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands and coastal California (Olson 2018). They occur in tropical to cool temperate waters, warmer than those preferred by Long-finned Pilot Whales off the east coast of the United States were primarily found in sea surface temperatures <22 °C and were uncommon in temperatures >25 °C (Garrison and Rosel 2017). Pilot whales are primarily adapted to feeding on squid, with reduced tooth counts associated with suction feeding (Werth 2000), and some populations demonstrate deep, fast dives in pursuit of large, high-calorie squid species (Aguilar Soto et al. 2008, Olson 2018). On the east coast of the United States, stranded Short-finned Pilot Whales were recorded to feed on a wide range of prey items, including the oceanic Common Arm Squid (Brachioteuthis riisei) as well as other predominantly oceanic squid and fish species (Mintzer et al. 2008). In contrast, neritic squid of the genus Loligo were more commonly found in the stomachs of Short-finned Pilot Whales on the west coast of the United States (Sinclair 1992).

Short-finned Pilot Whales prefer water depths ranging between 1,000 and 2,500 m, which in Macaronesia are regularly between 5 and 20 km distance from the coast (Servidio et al. 2019, Silva et al. 2014, Mistic Seas II 2019).

Dedicated surveys throughout all the Canary Islands showed that pilot whales distributed non‐uniformly at the archipelago, with greater densities concentrated in patchy areas and mainly at the leeward side of the neighbouring islands of Tenerife and La Gomera (Servidio et al. 2019). The insular shelves of the two neighbouring islands form a “canyon-like” bathymetry, and is one of the places in the world with the highest numbers of the giant squid Architeuthis dux and other large mesopelagic cephalopods (Escánez et al. 2018). These cephalopod species are likely targeted by Short-finned Pilot Whales when they perform a special foraging strategy during deep daytime dives, consisting of a downward-directed sprint just prior to a buzz (associated with capture attempts) at the deepest point in the dive (Aguilar de Soto et al. 2008). Foraging dives were recorded during the day and night time with a maximum recorded depth and duration of 1.018 m and 21 min (Aguilar de Soto et al. 2008). These were never recorded in the northwestern Atlantic (Quick et al. 2017) where Short-finned Pilot Whales apparently feed on smaller prey (Mintzer et al. 2008). The stomach content analysis of four individuals in the Canary Islands also found mainly cephalopods but of small sizes with an important presence of the family Cranchiidae, Cycloteuthidae and some Ommastrephidae (Hernández-García and Martín, 1994, Fernández et al. 2009). Fatty acid profiles analysis obtained from Short-finned Pilot Whales biopsies in the Canary Islands and Madeira showed significant differences between archipelagos, which suggests the whales feed on different prey items or in different proportions in each area (Marrero et al. 2016, García-Pastor et al. 2021). Modelling of diet contribution revealed that Short-finned Pilot Whales from Tenerife appear to be generalist predators, not focusing on any particular species (Marrero et al. 2016, Escánez 2019).

Short-finned Pilot Whales are found all around the Madeira Archipelago with a core habitat situated south-east of the main island where they have been observed resting, socialising, foraging, breeding, calving and birthing (Alves 2013, Freitas et al. 2014). This preferred area has been confirmed by long-term systematic surveys and opportunistic whale-watching data (Freitas et al. 2014, Mistic Seas II 2019, Fernandez et al. 2021). This deep-water area of high topographic relief is described as a particularly dynamic region with localised upwellings (Caldeira et al. 2002). Calves are observed all year round with higher proportions between March and August (Alves et al. 2018). Group size ranges from 1 to 120 individuals, with an average of 18 individuals (Alves et al. 2018). Deep dives over 500 m depth were recorded from both resident and transient individuals suggesting that they both use the area for feeding, although they spend most of the daytime at the surface (mean: 76.3%, S.D.: 18.6) (Alves et al. 2013).

Around the Azores, Pilot Whales (mostly Short-finned) are mainly found in deep waters between 1,000 and 2,000 m (Silva et al. 2014). Around São Miguel island, they concentrate between 700 and 1,200 m deep, with slopes of 2° to 6° and were encountered between 5 and 30 km from the coast (González García 2018, Negulescu 2020).

When both Pilot Whale species are present in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, they show similar feeding patterns over at least a short timescale, but they could differ over a long timescale due to variability in habitat preferences (Monteiro et al. 2017).

Short-finned Pilot Whales are found in warm temperate to tropical waters, generally in deep offshore areas. They do not usually range north of 50°N or south of 40°S (Olson 2018). In the Atlantic Ocean, Short-finned Pilot Whales range from the Sao Paulo coast in Brazil to New Jersey on the coast of North America in the west and from Cape Province in South Africa to the Charente-Maritime in the coasts of France in the east (Heimlich-Boran 1993, Bernard and Reilly 1999). There is some distributional overlap with Long-finned Pilot Whales, which occur primarily in cold temperate to subpolar waters of the North Atlantic and Southern Hemisphere (Hayes et al. 2017, Olson 2018). Short-finned Pilot Whales can be difficult to differentiate from their temperate counterparts when spotted from a distance or by inexperienced observers so that some northern records could have been missed. In the European Atlantic, their distribution overlap mainly occurs between the north of Macaronesia and the Bay of Biscay. This overlap could increase in the future in the context of global warming (Miralles et al. 2016) and has already shown the presence of reproductive hybrids between the two species (Miralles et al. 2013).

In European waters, Short-finned Pilot Whales can be found in offshore waters and around oceanic islands all around the Macaronesian biogeographic region (archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, and Canary Islands) (Mistic Seas II 2019, Alves et al. 2019). They are distributed mainly from the Canary Islands (Vonk and Martín 1988, Heimlich-Boran 1993) to the Madeira Archipelago (Freitas et al. 2012), and to a lesser extent in the Azores archipelago (Silva et al. 2014), with known movements between these islands (Alves et al. 2019).

In the Canary Islands, they are seen around all islands (Montero and Martín, 1993, Carrillo and Tejedor, 2002, Perez-Vallazza et al. 2008, Carrillo et al. 2010, Servidio et al. 2019), distributed non-uniformly around the archipelago, with high densities concentrated in the SW of Tenerife and La Gomera (Servidio et al. 2019). They are present all year round but larger groups are observed in summer and higher sighting rates in autumn (Heimlich-Boran and Hall 1993, Servidio et al. 2019). The community of pilot whales established in the SW of Tenerife is considered resident since sightings can occur throughout the year and some of the social groups that are sighted regularly maintain a high fidelity to the area (Heimlich-Boran 1993, Montero and Martín 1993, Carrillo and Tejedor 2002, Marrero et al. 2016, Servidio et al. 2019).

In Madeira, they are also one of the most commonly observed species, present all year round, and some animals show high site fidelity to the archipelago (Alves et al. 2013, Alves et al. 2018, Verborgh et al. 2022).

Although less common than in the southern archipelagos, Short-finned Pilot Whales are year-round regular visitors in the Azores with higher encounters in summer and autumn based on sighting and stranding rates, probably due to warmer sea temperatures (Silva et al. 2014). Their probability of encounter around Pico Islands have increased steadily from 0.38 in 2005 to a maximum of 0.79 in 2020, reflecting the species’ expansion, together with a decrease of Risso’s Dolphins observations per hour, which might suggest a local replacement linked to global warming (Fernández et al. 2022).

There are sporadic records of the species on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula (González et al. 2000, Monteiro et al. 2017, Alves et al. 2019). The species does not usually occur in the Mediterranean Sea but there was one confirmed extralimital record of the species in the Adriatic Sea in 2010 (Verborgh et al. 2016). Other extralimital records come from the French coast of the Bay of Biscay (45.4ºN), where four animals stranded in 1966, 1988, 2008 and 2011 (Sabatier et al. 2015). These Mediterranean records are not shown on the distribution map.

To the south, Short-finned Pilot Whales are commonly seen in Cape Verde with observation and/or strandings recorded year round except for May and July which lack dedicated effort (Hazevoet et al. 2010). They were the most frequent species encountered during a geophysical survey off Mauritania in September-December 2012 (Russell et al. 2018). Although there has been limited survey effort, the compiled records suggest that Short-finned Pilot Whales occur regularly in deep water off the west coast of Africa (Weir 2010).

The Short-finned Pilot Whale is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Unlike Long-finned Pilot whales, Short-finned Pilot Whales are not listed on either appendix of the Convention on Migratory Species, Short-finned Pilot Whales are protected by some instruments of this convention, such as the Agreements of ASCOBANS (Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas, https://www.ascobans.org) and ACCOBAMS (Mediterranean and Black Sea and the adjacent Atlantic area, https://accobams.org/), and the Memorandum of Understanding of Western African Aquatic Mammals (Western Africa and Macaronesia, https://www.cms.int/aquatic-mammals).

The species is considered “Least Concern” in the IUCN Red List of Threatened species at global scale (Minton et al. 2018).

Short-finned Pilot Whales are protected from deliberate disturbance, capture or killing under the EU Habitat Directive as all other cetacean species within EU27 waters (Appendix IV). There are no marine protected areas declared for the specific purpose of this species conservation, however, the two Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) Teno-Rasca (southwest Tenerife) and SAC Franja Marina Santiago-Valle Gran Rey (La Gomera Island) in the Canary archipelago and the Site of Community Importance (SCI - Cetaceos Madeira) in Madeira cover important Short-finned Pilot Whale habitat. The channel between the islands of Tenerife and La Gomera in the Canary Islands has been recently declared a “Hope Spot” by the entity Mission Blue (i.e. special places that are scientifically identified as critical to the health of the ocean, https://missionblue.org/hope-spots/), as well as the first European “Whale Heritage Site” (a certification programme established by the World Cetacean Alliance https://whaleheritagesites.org/). Madeira is currently a candidate “Whale Heritage Site” (https://whaleheritagesites.org/sites/). None of these awards are legally binding, but they underline the worldwide relevance of these areas for Short-finned Pilot Whales. Effective management of whale-watching activity, including compliance with Spanish national and regional regulations, is essential to limit the impacts of this activity on the local population.

Population abundance and survival rate of local Short-finned Pilot Whales from Madeira and the Canary Islands have been selected to be periodically monitored as indicators of the Good Environmental Status for the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Research is needed to estimate total abundance estimates and trends and determine the impact of potential threats on this species.