03.06.2025 – Sperm whales and stowaways
June 10, 2025
Today on our trip we had a special sighting floating in the ocean. It was not a cetacean species, instead a tiny little fish. I speak about the so called Pipefish (Syngnathinae). These small fish with their long snakelike bodies tend not to be in the open ocean. Our little friend was hiding below a piece of reed ninth open ocean. They are related to seahorses and like them their reproduction is peculiar. The males are the one who carry the fertilised eggs in a little pouch and thus “give birth” to the young. This is unique in the animal kingdom.
Apart from this we had also some cetaceans. Today we observed some Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), Blainville`s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) and Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba).
By Horst Schulte
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
09:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins
13:00 Blainville’s beaked whales
Stenella
09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales, Loggerhead sea turtle, Pipefish
13:30 Blainville’s beaked whale, Flying fish
16:00 Blainville’s beaked whale, Flying fish
