Bottlenose Dolphin
| Scientific Name | Tursiops truncatus / aduncus |  | |
| English Common Name | Bottlenose Dolphin | ||
| Taxonomy | Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Sub-order: Odontoceti Family: Delphinidae Genus: Tursiops Species: truncatus / aduncus Tursiops truncatus (Common bottlenose dolphin) is found in most warm to tropical oceans whilst Tursiops aduncus (Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin) are found in the waters around India, Australia and South-China. A further two sub-species of T.truncatus are sometimes recognised: T. t. gillii - found in the Pacific and T. t. ponticus - found in the Black Sea. | ||
| Behaviour | Very active at the surface and engages in breaching, lob-tailing, bow-riding and other acrobatic feats on a regular basis. Inshore groups tend to be smaller than offshore groups and they are known to be highly sociable, forming individual bonds and frequently moving between groups | ||
| World Distribution | Bottlenose dolphins are found in many places around the world but not in polar regions. In fact, they can be found off all the continents, and in-between, except around Antarctica. The Bottlenose dolphins in the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society’s (WDCS) adoption scheme are resident in the Moray Firth in Scotland and are the northernmost population worldwide. There are two ecotypes of bottlenose dolphin: a smaller coastal form and a larger, more robust offshore form – known to undertake seasonal migrations. The inshore form are frequently seen in harbours, bays, lagoons, estuaries and river mouths with many of the populations are resident all year around. | ||
| Morphology | Bottlenose dolphins vary greatly in size, shape and colour from one individual to another and according to the geographical region in which it lives. They can be varying shades of grey although all will have a darker dorsal cape, paler grey sides and a light grey underside. The easiest way of recognising a bottlenose is to look out for an obvious dark and curved-back dorsal fin on a lively and inquisitive grey dolphin. Bottlenose dolphins often bow-ride and can be highly active. The shape of their dorsal fin, along with nicks, scratches and other markings, are what researchers use to identify individual bottlenose dolphins in a population. They have between 40 and 52 teeth in their upper jaw and 36 –48 teeth in their lower jaw. Bottlenose dolphins from different parts of the world are very different in sizes. There can be as much as a two metre difference between some adults, ranging from 1.9 to 3.9 metres in length and weighing between 150 and 650 kg. Newborns can also vary in both length and weight, anything between 85 cm and 1.3 meters and between 15 and 30 kg. Bottlenose Dolphins diet includes fish, squid, krill and other crustaceans. | ||
| Threats | Major threats include “drive hunts” where the dolphins are either slaughtered for their meat or made available to the captivity industry, habitat loss, human disturbance, chemical pollution and entanglement in fishing nets. | ||
| Status | No abundance estimate for the species is available however it is known that some of the inshore, resident populations have been declining in past years. | ||
| Conservation Activities | CMS Appendix II Protected under ASCOBANS Protected under ACCOBAMS | ||
