Fam.: Delphinidae

Bottlenose dolphins are familiar to everyone from television and dolphinaria, TV star "Flipper" belonging to this species. Reaching up to 3.8 m in length, they have a robust appearance with a stocky snout distinctly set off from the melon by a crease. The dorsal fin is tall and falcate. Bottlenose dolphins live in schools of less than twenty to several hundred individuals and are very active swimmers. Fluke slapping, leaping and aerial performance are often part of their natural behaviour. They feed on whatever suitable prey is available.

Bottlenose dolphins are primarily inhabitants of coastal and inshore regions of tropical and temperate waters. A few resident populations exist around the British Isles and used to be indigenous off the Dutch coast. A group of more than 100 individuals, permanently resident in the Moray Firth near Inverness and Cromarty in Scotland, is the northernmost bottlenose dolphin population worldwide.

Illustrations: M. Camm