30.01.2024 – Offshore surprises and familiar faces

The ocean was looking fairly empty for our spotter at our crew sped off into the Atlantic. The mist of Sahara sand that was carried to the archipelago through east winds didn’t help here, and our team decided to focus its search further offshore to widen the search range. Suddenly a little surprise popped up in the form of a tiny pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) around three and a half miles off the coast of Arco da Calheta.

Spotted dolphins tend to be more abundant during the summer months but we occasionally see a few small pods arriving here during the winter. These pods are usually nursery groups containing tiny, vulnerable calves who would be more exposed to danger out in the open ocean. Despite their usual curious nature, the tiny pod reacted evasively to our boat which soon prompted us to move on and search for other animals.

Our spotter soon discovered a fairly large group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) travelling west. At the centre of the pod, was a familiar looking individual with a distinctly marked dorsal fin and scars along its beak. We identified the animal on site as our old friend Pacino, an older individual that is easy to identify at sea. Research in the Adriatic has also suggested that Bottlenose dolphins can be identified using facial recognition software as an accessory tool to ID through the dorsal fin. This is especially useful with young calves with little markings on their dorsal fins.

Well, even with a seemingly bleak looking ocean, things truly never get boring around here!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins