Striped dolphin

striped dolphin - Stenella coeruleoalba

The striped dolphin is the most abundant dolphin in the Mediterranean. It is very easy to spot very large groups even of 50 dolphins while sailing even near ferries and ships. These agile and lively dolphins, however, live far from the coasts, in deep waters over 200 meters, on the other hand they willingly accept encounters with boats, often taking advantage of the waves created by the boats to play, performing dives and extraordinary jumps over the water surface. The most spectacular jumps reach a height of 7 meters.
It is one of the fastest dolphins, thanks to a hydrodynamic body and a very elongated rostrum (snout).
Pelagic life, forces these animals to form large mixed flocks, with males, females and babies, in which there is more collaboration with the division of roles. For this reason, dolphins have less competition and have very few distinctive marks on the body, preventing researchers from recognizing them.
In the seapark these dolphins are not used because far from their large group they literally let themselves die of depression. To date, they are the species that produces the largest winter deaths for the weakening of the immune defenses and to pollution.

FEATURES

Color - Gray / Black, with side white flameStriped dolphin

Adult length - 2.5 m

Adult weight - 150 kg

Birth weight - 10 kg

Diet - Shrimp, Molluscs, Fish

Group - 10 -50 individuals

Status - Common

 

THREATS

Pollution

Excessive fishing

 

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