30.08.2025 – Adventures in the west
September 7, 2025
Today was a strange day. We saw a lot, except for whales and dolphins. One of the highlights of the day was definitely the Blue dragon (Glaucus atlanticus). This is a pelagic nudibranch, although it looks small, it is a veracious predator of venomous hydrozoans like the Portuguese man-o-war (Physalia physalis) and the By-the-wind-sailor (Velella velella). The stinging cells of the hydrozoans are stored in the skin of the Blue dragon, making them highly venomous too.
Another story of the day was the blind passenger on the Ribeira Brava. A young Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) landed on the little roof on the Ribeira Brava and stayed there for 15-20 minutes. Yellow-legged gulls are the main sea gull species around Madeira and like all larger gulls they go through several cooler changes until they reach sexual maturity.
Apart from these on our last trip we also encountered some cetaceans finally. They were Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). Both are beautiful animals spending a lot of time around our island.
By Horst Schulte
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
09:00 No sighting
13:00 No sighting
Stenella
09:00 No sighting
13:30 No sighting
16:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins
