Tursiops truncatus
Bottlenose dolphin | Common Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus, Breaksea Island, WA, Photo: Graham EdgarSimilar Species
Same Genus
Distribution
Mediterranean, Temperate Africa, Temperate Australasia, Temperate South America, Temperate northern Atlantic, Temperate northern Pacific, Tropical Atlantic/Caribbean, Tropical Eastern Pacific, Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Large grey dolphin with off-white belly and pale grey splash along side, short rounded snout with smooth rounded bulb behind, dorsal fin slightly hooked and set half way back along body. Almost identical to Tursiops aduncus (Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin), but has a larger skull.
Information
Max Size: 380 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 11.4-24.6°C
Depth: 0-200m
Habitat Generalization Index: N/A
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Occurrence: Infrequent (1.5% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Few (4 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields