06.04.2021 – What does it mean?

Published by Fatima Kutzschbach on April 13, 2021

It took a while and a little patience was necessary, but in the end we had a nice, close encounter with a group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Reluctantly at first, they then decided to take a look at us and accompany us for quite a while.

I would divide our encounter into three different episodes. At the beginning these powerful dolphins moved east with little interest in us, then they stopped and changed direction again and again in the closer environment, and finally they move together with us towards the west and the port.

What does the scientific name of Bottlenose dolphin actually mean? Tursiops truncatus! The generic name Tursiops is derived from the reference made by the Roman historian Pliny to a dolphin-like fish, Tursio. The ending ops means “look like”. The specific name truncatus means “shortened or cut off”. The latter refers to the stubby and short rostrum of these dolphins.