20.07.2023 – Challenging but beautiful
July 28, 2023
22.07.2023 – Busy between the waves
July 30, 2023
Today we went out on a beautifully flat Atlantic Ocean to search for our favourite marine dwellers. Like other oceanic islands, Madeira has multiple functions as a habitat. It can acts as a temporary safe haven or sort of pitstop for many marine organisms travelling through our oceans but can also an incredibly important habitat that is visited very frequently by others. The relationship of an organism to a habitat is called site fidelity and scientists use photo identification as a non-invasive alternative to tagging to study this in cetaceans.
Scientists tend to prioritise frequently encountered species for such research since these are vital when art comes to conservation efforts and one very “hot” species currently is the gorgeous Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni). Also known as the tropical whale, the species tends to remain in sub-tropical and tropical latitudes, much unlike its fellow baleen whale cousins. It is the most frequently encountered baleen whale around our archipelago and is currently the only known baleen whale with a strong site fidelity to the region. Today two beautiful individuals were curiously gliding by our boats as they swam east in front of Calheta. It was a magnificent sighting.
Another species that will surely be a centrepiece for researchers in the near future is one of our seasonal dolphins, the Short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). The species is much more abundant in winter, with only tiny pods remaining in the regions waters during the summer and we saw two small pods of these beautiful dolphins today during our morning and midday tours. In the summer these dolphins travel to more temperate waters further north and often end up swimming through areas where enormous fishing boats, known as super trawlers, are active and often end up as bycatch. This makes us happy about each and every single sighting of these pretty dolphins and, although we ended the day without a sighting on our speedboat, our crew still felt accomplished in sharing these wonderful moments with our guests.
By Paula Thake
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
09:30 Bryde’s whale, Short-beaked common dolphins
13:30 Short-beaked common dolphins
Stenella
09:30 Bryde’s whale, Short-beaked common dolphins
13:30 Short-beaked common dolphins
17:00 No cetacean sightings
