24.03.2023 – Top down

Long searches for cetaceans make the achieved sightings seem so much more special! While our team did not have an easy time finding cetaceans, we were as always overjoyed at our sightings with Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) today. Both species are known to be extremely charismatic and approached our boats during the encounters, allowing our team to take some lovely snap shots! 

Locating dolphins and enjoying such encounters with them always feels like a proper achievement and an absolute joy for our guests! We always make sure to mention that encounters with top predators are never to be taken for granted since these already existed in small numbers and are still on an alarming decline. Predators regulate ecosystems, preventing their collapse and the survival of all species that constitute them. Biologists call this sort of ecological regulation “top down regulation” since predators are at the top of the trophic pyramid and this affects organisms existing in lower trophic levels, even primary producers such as plankton. 

In truth we don’t know what the oceans would be like without top predators but one thing’s for sure, they wouldn’t be as beautiful!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins

16:00 Short-beaked common dolphins