16.11.2022 – Speed junkies

Today we went against the wind and through the waves. Not easy work for the spotter and the captains. Unfortunately, our fishing boat had no luck in the morning, for the Stenella it meant covering a long distance to finally experience our speed junkies. In most cases, being slow is not exactly to the liking of the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). They prefer to race alongside the boat and show us that they are faster after all. In big leaps, they raced over the waves and towards us. Their small, round bodies flew through the air.

Leaps are used as a means of communication as well as for practical reasons by marine mammals. It can be dominance or imposing behavior. It can be used to send acoustic signals to other group members, or smacking on the sea surface is great for getting rid of old skin cells and parasites. The animal will then be able to glide faster through the water again and thus be more successful in the hunt. Since air resistance is less than water resistance, a long jump over the sea surface can be used to get ahead quickly with less effort. The jumps we saw today seemed to express pure joy of life, and the clever little dolphins used the reduced drag to express their enjoyment of being faster than the boat. Our Spotted dolphins belong to the subgroup of the Stenella dolphins. All dolphins in the Stenella group are fast swimmers. For this reason, our speedboat was given the same name.

By Fatima Kutzschbach

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 no sighting

Stenella

10:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

15:00 no trip due to weather condition