Spinner dolphin
Stenella longirostris
Valid name.
- English
- Spinner dolphin
- Scientific
- Stenella longirostris
- Dhivehi
- No recorded Dhivehi name
- Group
- Dolphins
- Maximum size
- Up to about 2.4 m
- Depth and habitat
- Rests inside atoll lagoons and channels by day; feeds in deep oceanic water at night
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2018
Description
A small, slender dolphin with a very long, thin beak and a three-tone colour pattern of dark grey back, lighter grey sides and white belly. It is famous for its aerial spins, leaping out of the water and rotating several times on its long axis before falling back. It feeds at night on small fish, squid and shrimps that rise from the deep scattering layer, and rests in sheltered shallow water during the day. Schools can number in the hundreds.
In the Maldives
The commonest cetacean in the Maldives: about 35% of all sightings and 53% of individuals in Anderson's 1990-2002 surveys. Schools enter the atolls through channels in the morning to rest and leave in the late afternoon, which is why sunset 'dolphin cruises' from resorts are so reliable.
Sources
- sealifebase.se /summary/Stenella-longirostris.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
- marinemammalhabitat.org /wp-content/uploads/imma-factsheets/WesternIndianOcean/Maldives-archip
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Gray's_spinner_dolphin_(Stenella_longirostris_longirostris)
Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in the cetacean literature reviewed (Anderson 2005; Anderson et al. 2012), FishBase/SeaLifeBase or Dhivehi Wikipedia.