07.08.2018 – Teeth and baleens

There have been four trips with our two boats, the traditional fishing vessel “Ribeira Brava” and the zodiac “Stenella” today. Summed over the day we were able to observe Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba), Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and a Tropical whale (Balaenoptera edeni) during the excursions into the blue habitat of our oceanic friends.

Those mentioned species belong to the two different taxonomic branches within the cetacean relations: the dolphins are representatives of the toothed whales (Odontoceti) whereas the Tropical whale (also known as Bryde’s whale) is a member of the baleen whales (Mysticeti). This classification is based on the possession of teeth, which all the tooth whales have although some species have only very few.

In contrast to the toothed whales, who actively hunt for single individual prey items like fish, mollusks or crustaceans, the baleen whales have a different strategy to catch their food. They move with the mouth wide open directly into swarms of prey species which can be planktonic crustaceans and in the case of the Tropical whale also small schooling fish, take a big gulp of water and close their jaws. The seawater drains out but all the fish or krill gets retained by the baleens and then swallowed.

Those baleens are transverse plates of keratin which hang down from the animal’s upper jaws. We got some exhibits from the whale museum in Caniçal. They can be seen in our shop. You should take a look the next time you come around!

by Jan-Christopher Fischer

Sightings of the day

Stenella

08:30 (snorkeling) Atlantic spotted dolphins, Striped dolphins, Tropical whale

15:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Striped dolphins

18:00 Bottlenose dolphins

Ribeira Brava

13:30 Striped dolphins