04.03.2024 – A Spectacular Maritime Adventure with Short-finned Pilot Whales and Bottlenose Dolphins in Madeira!
March 11, 2024
06.03.2024 – A Day of Dolphins: Short-beaked Common and Bottlenose Delight!
March 14, 2024
Darting out onto the Atlantic ocean aboard our Stenella always feels like an adventure. We never know what to expect out at sea and, even when our spotter calls with the location of the sighting and situation at sea, we are never short on surprises on our blue expanse of a workplace.
Our day started with a pod of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) travelling towards the vicinity of the Calheta fish farm where they will likely opportunistically feed on the predatory fish surrounding the enclosures. The circling shoals of Gilt-headed breams (Sparus aurata) within the cages attract larger predatory fish including Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) and young Amberjacks (Seriola dumerili), irresistible prey for a hungry Bottlenose dolphin.
The rest of today’s sightings, both in the morning sand afternoon, were much further offshore and consisted of several hunting situations involving both Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) and Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). Both species were hunting Halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae), planktivorous fish that aggregate close to the surface prompting lightning like dashes and leaps at the surface by the dolphins.
Dolphins weren’t the only ones involved in today’s oceanic odyssey; Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis) joined in the hunting action and in the afternoon, we even had the pleasure of encountering a large Blue shark (Prionace glauca) circling the hunting grounds. It was so exciting to finally see a larger shark in action as we tend to have very few sightings of this beautiful yet vulnerable predators! What a fantastic day at the office!
By Paula Thake
Sightings of the day
Stenella
09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins
13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins
