18.04.2022 – A common day?

Today we had Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) on all tours. So could we say it was a common day? Under no circumstance!

In addition to marine mammals, we can observe a wide range of other interesting creatures at sea that share this habitat. In our blue office, it got varied today. Portuguese man-o-wars (Physalia physalis) drifted between the waves, a Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) showed up, a Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris borealis) ran on the sea surface with its little butt wiggling until it let itself be lifted by the wind, a flying fish (Cheilopogon melanurus) sailed just above the sea and even a Mako shark (Isurus) showed up. So every discovery can become an adventure. The sea has a lot to offer, you only have to see the gifts of nature.

In the morning, there were also Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which quietly migrated towards Funchal. At our trip at noon we saw very briefly Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba).

Mako sharks can grow up to four meters long and weigh up to 500 kg. They are fast and intelligent hunters that can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h due to the structure of their skin. Her maneuverability is outstanding. This makes them efficient predators in the sea. Despite combining intelligence, speed and agility as a winning strategy, Mako sharks, both the Shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) and the Longfin mako shark (Isurus paucus), are on the Red List of Threatened Species due to overfishing.

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Common dolphins, Bottlenose dolphin, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwaters

14:30 Common dolphins, Flying fish, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater

Stenella

10:00 Common dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater

13:30 Common dolphins, Striped dolphins, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater

16:00 Common dolphins, Mako shark, Loggerhead turtle, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s shearwater