15.03.2019 – Clear skies
March 23, 2019
18.03.2019 – And so we meet again
March 27, 2019
Our colorful traditional boat embarked on two very different tours on this sunny Saturday. In the morning we set out on a placid ocean and didn’t have to search for long; our spotter soon lead us to a small, calm pod of Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus). The scarred heads of the adults repeatedly broke the surface with the grey smooth head of the calf also emerging at intervals alongside its mother.
The wind creased up the ocean surface a little during the afternoon tour, as we travelled west to finally meet a group of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis). As the herd sliced through the crystal clear blue water, we were able to make out two melanistic animals that seemed perfectly integrated in the group.
As we had mentioned in earlier blogs, sightings of melanistic common dolphins have been quite frequent in recent times indicating that this anomaly may be somehow hereditary. Probably it gives the animals some foraging advantages or helps protect them against the suns harmful UV rays. The blue blanket of the Atlantic does offer some protection against the suns rays but surface-active dolphins like the commons expose themselves to the sun more often than other species.
By Paula Thake
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
10:00 Risso’s dolphins
15:00 Short-beaked common dolphins
