No photo available
Striped dolphin
Stenella coeruleoalba
Valid name.
- English
- Striped dolphin
- Scientific
- Stenella coeruleoalba
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Dolphins
- Maximum size
- Up to about 2.6 m
- Depth and habitat
- Deep offshore waters
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2018
Description
A slim dolphin with a long beak, a dark back and white belly, separated by a distinctive pattern: a dark stripe running from the eye to the flipper and another from the eye to the anus, plus a pale 'shoulder blaze' sweeping up towards the dorsal fin. It travels in fast, active groups that often leap high out of the water. It feeds on small fish and squid, sometimes at considerable depth.
In the Maldives
Occasional in Maldivian waters (about 2% of encounters); historical specimens were collected east of the Maldives in the 19th century.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Stenella-coeruleoalba.html
- mammalwatching.com /wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Maldives-cetaceans-review-2012.pdf
- mrc.gov.mv /assets/Uploads/2005-Observations-of-cetaceans-in-the-Maldives-1990-20
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Stenella_coeruleoalba_Ligurian_Sea_02_-_brighter.jpg
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in the cetacean literature reviewed (Anderson 2005; Anderson et al. 2012), FishBase/SeaLifeBase or Dhivehi Wikipedia.