11.04.2025 – A consequence of ocean physics

The Atlantic Ocean is a beautiful, mystical place that should never be underestimated. Our tours depend on her mood and the conditions that govern it.

This morning, the ocean looked more inviting after the past stormy weeks and our Stenella set off to find some dolphins far off the coast of Paul do Mar. The glare of the sun on the ocean surface made it hard for our spotter to follow them but our team soon managed to track down this extremely evasive pod. We assumed by their behaviour that it may have been a small group of Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) and decided to leave them be. We immediately darted off to see a group of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) that were travelling west but were also surrounded by boats. We kept the sighting short to minimise our impact and, in between these two short sightings, our team decided to focus on the oceans smaller treasures.

Portuguese Man O’ Wars (Physalis physalis) have been floating around for days now, many of them dangerously close to shore where these zooid colonies will meet their end. Both their survival and demise are a consequence of ocean physics. While the colony grows in a unisexual manner – budding off new multicellular zooids each with their own special function – the creation of a new colony relies on the release of reproductive cells into the water. Specialised zooids in the colony (that is either male or female) take care of this and releases them into the water column. Since the colonies are subject to currents and these often lead to the congregation of several colonies in the same area, it can be considered quite a successful method of reproduction!

So while the weather did bring us these beautiful Hydrozoans, it also brought us a lot of wind and difficulty finding animals during our afternoon tour. While our guests were entertained with a few encounters with more Man O’ Wars, we were determined to find the Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) that was dashing west. Unfortunately it was impossible to find the whale but we enjoyed our wild ride nonetheless!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Short-finned pilot whales, Striped dolphins

13:30 No cetacean sighting