<p>Cetacean Distribution and Habitat Suitability in the Gulf of Guinea as Inferred by Assembling Multiple Data Sources</p>

The Gulf of Guinea is globally one of the most data-poor regions for cetacean distribution and ecology. However, increasing levels of coastal development and human activity offshore are likely to be a source of anthropogenic pressure.This study provides the first regional multi-taxon assessment of habitat suitability for nine cetacean taxa using complementary Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) and Generalized Additive Models (GAMs). A total of 1,052 cetacean occurrence records collected between 2000 and 2023 were assembled from scientific surveys, offshore industry monitoring, opportunistic observations, and institutional datasets.,Both modelling approaches showed good predictive performance, although performance varied among taxa and was generally higher for MaxEnt. MaxEnt models produced AUC values ranging from 0.919 to 0.993, while GAM models explained between 11.2% and 63.4% of the deviance in taxon occurrence patterns in relation to environmental and seasonal predictors. Bathymetry emerged as the main predictor for most taxa, whereas chlorophyll-a, salinity, slope, and Eddy Kinetic Energy contributed to taxon-specific habitat structuring. The Critically Endangered Atlantic humpback dolphin (Sousa teuszii) showed high predicted habitat suitability in shallow nearshore waters, whereas sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), and melon-headed whales (Peponocephala electra) were primarily associated with deeper shelf-edge and oceanic habitats.Spatial predictions highlighted potentially important coastal, shelf-associated, and offshore habitats, particularly from Cameroon and Gabon to northern Angola.,These findings provide a scientific basis for marine spatial planning, transboundary conservation, and the prioritization of areas for cetacean monitoring and management in the eastern tropical Atlantic.