Whitesided Atlantic dolphin is one of the representatives of the Dolphin family. A distinctive feature of this species is a white or light yellow strip that passes through the entire body of a mammal. The lower part of the head and body also has a milky white or light yellow color. The remaining parts of the body have a dark gray color. The shape of the body is torpedoshaped (narrowing occurs to the tail and to the head), the fins are relatively small and flat, and the dorsal fin has the shape of a crescent.
Unlike other representatives of the family, this dolphin is not clearly expressed and only 5 centimeters long.
Atlantic whitesided dolphin relatively small. An adult male reaches a length of a little more than two and a half meters, and weighing up to 230 kilograms. The female is slightly smaller in size, its length reaches up to two and a half meters, and the weight ranges about 200 kilograms.
Atlantic dolphins are very sociable and playful representatives of the sea fauna. When communication, sound waves are used and can hear each other at a very significant distance.
Habitat
From the name of this type of dolphins, the main range of their habitat is immediately clear. The house for the whitesided dolphin is the Atlantic Ocean (moderate and northern latitudes). From the shores of the Labrador Peninsula through the southern shores of Greenland to the Scandinavian Peninsula.
In Russian waters, this species is extremely rare. As a rule the Barents Sea and the Baltic.
Atlantic whitesided dolphin is a very heatloving look. The temperature of the water in which they live ranges from five to fifteen degrees above zero.
What eats
The main diet for a whitesided dolphin is oily northern fish (herring and mackerel). Dolphins also feed on mollusks of cephalopods (mainly squids, octopuses and karakatics).
Dolphins hunt flocks. As a rule, dolphins with the help of sound and air bubbles surround a flock of fish and shoot through it.
The main natural enemy for the Atlantic whitesided dolphin is a person. The economic development of the oceans and, as a result, its pollution leads to a reduction in the population of dolphins. Also the cause of the death of these animals is the exercises of the military.
And of course, poaching and setting up networks are the cause of death for more than 1000 individuals annually. On the coast of Norway, large flocks of dolphins are driven and locked in the fjords, after which they kill.
Interesting Facts
- Atlantic whitesided dolphin is a mammalian and the period of feeding the cub is about 1.5 years. And the gestation period is eleven months. Before giving birth, the female is friends at a distance from the main pack.
- These dolphins live in large groups. The number of flocks reaches 60 individuals. They have very developed social ties within the group.
- Life expectancy is on average 25 years.
- White dolphins are very friendly creatures. Love to play and very sociable. But the dolphins are not coming close to a person.
- From the ancient Greek word dolphin to translate as a brother. Perhaps that is why in ancient Greece for the murder of this animal the highest measure was assigned the death penalty.
- Like a person, Beloboka Dolphin can distinguish tastes, but they have completely absent from the sense of smell.
