Black and White Dolphin / Porpoise ID Replies ________________________________________________
White-sided dolphin. Colors faded, did it smell bad?
(Southpaw)
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Re: your mammal, although I can't be sure from the picture, it looks like
it's a young spotted dolphin (Stenella). The white mark on the lips makes me
lean that way, and in the photo some faint spots appear to be visible.
The second most likely is that it's a bottlenosed dolphin (Turpsiops
truncatus). A bottlenosed wouldn't be quite black, as you describe it, but
they can get pretty dark on top, and are countershaded to light gray below.
One other possibility is a striped dolphin (Stenella coruleoalba); if you
get a closer look, check for a distinct thin black line from the eyes all
the way back to the underside of the tail, and a V-shaped grey patch on each
flank under the dorsal fin. Again, these are absent from your photo, but
perhaps close up you'll be able to tell.
Hope that helps...
Graham Charles
(Just an amateur cetophile!)
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Holy smoke! It looks a little like a baby Dahl's Porpoise.
Kim in Vermont (and looking forward to my annual snookfest down in Big
Pine next week)
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Professor Paul H. Yancey Image of Finless & Dahl's Porpoises
http://www.bmi.net/yancey/2porpoisespp.JPG
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Very interesting. The white patches look to be a genteic mutation in in the
pigmented cells of the skin. The position of the blowhole is very odd.The
hump anterior to the blowhole is a mystery without looking at the animal.
One would have to see the dolphin in person. How long had the animal been
on the beach? Was it sunny that day or the day before? What happened to the
dolphin? Was it taken to a lab or disposed of? Please let me know. Thanks.
Bridget
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Looks like it could be a possible false killer whale but yet its hard to
tell but they are known to be in the gulf.
Email me when you find out. Oh yea those are some really nice reds. I
live in the panhandle of florida but have yet to catch them like that,
nice going.
Don
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This baby dolphin / porpoise is black & white, sadly, I have photographed and seen many washed ashore here over the years, most are apparent drowning victims, bluish gray to white usually, some as big as 400 pounds, some infants still tangled in lines, never a black and white one though. I carried it to a resting place I know in the back beach dunes in case someone wanted to study it or the skeletal remains.
Thankyou for the replies, still not sure what it really is though?
Bob Bertaut Sr.
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