Hourglass dolphins are distributed in a circumpolar pattern in the higher latitudes of the southern oceans (Goodall 1997; Goodall et al. 1997; Brownell and Donahue 1999). They range to the ice-edges in the south, but the northern limits are not well-known (they are found to at least 45°S, although some occasionally reach 33°S). The most southerly sightings are from near 68°S, in the South Pacific (Goodall 1997; Brownell and Donahue 1999). This is the only small delphinid species regularly found south of the Antarctic Convergence.