Bottlenose Dolphin
(Tursiops truncatus)
Image from UNCW Marine Mammal Program
Taken under NOAA scientific permit #948-1692-00
Image from UNCW Marine Mammal Program
Taken under NOAA scientific permit #948-1692-00
Species Description:
- Robust body and moderately falcate dorsal fin
- Sharp demarcation between melon and short rostrum
- Pectoral flipper’s leading edge convex, pointed tips
- Flukes concavely curved along trailing margin and
notched in center
- Body coloration ranges from light grey to black dorsally
and laterally, with a lighter colored belly
- Body size and appendage shape varies across
geographic regions
- Average adult length is 6-12 ft (2-3.8 m)
- Average adult weight is 300-1400 lbs (135-635 kg)
Behavior:
Reproduction:
- Fast, efficient swimmers
- Cruise at speeds of 1.4 to 3.1 meters per second (3.1-6.9
miles per hour)
- Coastal form found in groups of 2-15 individuals
- Groups types include:
female bands/nursery, subadult,
and male pairs
- Lifespan for males - 40-45 yrs, females - over 50 yrs
- Sexual maturity for males - 9-14 yrs, females - 5-13 yrs
- Gestation period approximately 12 months
- Calving season usually occurs in warmer months
Diet:
Threats / Conservation:
- Fish
- Benthic invertebrates
- Not endangeredConservation/
- Pelagic fish and squids
- Protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in
- Feeding strategies include “fish whacking”, “kerplunking”,
“crater” feeding, and herding
Threats:
United States
- Bycatch from gillnets, seines, trawls and fishing gear
- In 2013-14 experienced a Morbillivirus unusual mortality
event
Species Distribution:
- Usually found in warm temperate and tropical seas, in both coastal and offshore areas
- Inhabit water with a surface temperature ranging from 10C to 32C
- Coastal populations can migrate into bays, estuaries and river mouths
Courtesy of NOAA
Bottlenose Dolphin Range Map - Offshore populations inhabit both continental shelf and pelagic waters
Strandings in North Carolina:
- From 1992 to 2014, 2,072 bottlenose dolphins stranded in North Carolina
- Most commonly stranded cetacean in North Carolina
References:
UNCW Stranding Program under NOAA SA
Information for this document came primarily from NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources website
Other references included Handbook of Marine Mammals Volume 6: The Second Book of
Produced
Dolphins and the Porpoises (1999).
UNCW Stranding Program under NOAA SA
by UNCW student Jasmine Medina, 2015