Common Name:
Striped dolphin.
Latin Name:
Stenella coeruleoalba.
Other Names:
White belly, Euphrosyne dolphin, Blue-white dolphin, Meyen's dolphin, Gray's dolphin, Streaker porpoise.
Primary Classification:
Odontocete (Toothed whale, dolphin or porpoise)
Sub Classification:
Delphinidae.
Description:
The striped dolphin is fairly easy to identify from the distinctive strips on its sides and the pink undersides of some.
One of its distinctive features is the pale grey, finger-shaped marking below the dorsal fin. The other unique feature is a black line that stretches from beak, around the eye patch to the underside of the rear flank.
These features are easily seem when they race along with flying leaps. The striped dolphin is very streamlined with a long beak and large dorsal fin.
Field ID:
Streamlined body; long slender beak; black stripe from eye to flipper; pale finger marking below fin; white or pink underside; fast active swimmer; often bow-rides; dark flippers, tail and fin.
Length (metres):
Males are 1.9 - 2.6m, females 1.9 -2.1m, and new-borns about 1m (39in)
Weight:
Adults range from 90 to 150kg
Diet:
Fish, squid and crustaceans
Behaviour:
They are very agile and highly active, often spotted tail-spinning and somersaulting as well as breaching to spectacular heights (7m.). They bow-ride as well but, strangely, it seems mainly in the Atlantic Ocean, there are far fewer reports of this in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. They form large social groups of between 10 - 500 but can be found in schools of up to 3000! When swimming in such large groups, approximately one-third of the members can be seen above the surface at any one time.