Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus )

The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus ) is a the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ) strongly resembling dolphin, the Indo-Pacific from the southern coast of South Africa and the East African coast as well as along the entire northern coast of the Indian Ocean to the tropical western Pacific to southern Japan, northern Australia and Melanesia occurs.

Features

The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin is a maximum of 2.60 meters long and 230 kg in weight and thus remains less than the bottlenose dolphin. Males average slightly larger than females. The body is slender, the head smaller, the snout longer and thinner than in the bottlenose dolphin. The melon is less strongly developed and forms the head less convex. The fin ( back fin ) sits above the center of the body, is crescent-shaped and in comparison to the Bottlenose proportionally higher, while the flippers ( pectoral) are now and then proportionally larger. The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins has more teeth than the bottlenose dolphin.

Its color is generally gray to light brown, sometimes with a contrasting darker top. The underside is whitish. In a minority of animals with age develops a point of drawing on the ventral side. Eye stripe and other times on the head and shoulder stripes are less distinct than in the bottlenose dolphin.

Way of life

The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins living near the coast and sociable, usually in schools 5-15 animals, in some cases, but also in very large groups of up to 1,000 animals. In some regions it is often associated with instances of the bottlenose dolphin and dolphins of the genus Sousa. He jumps less often than the bottlenose dolphin, is less playful and boats against abrasion. How the bottle-nosed dolphin, he feeds on fish and cephalopods.

Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins give birth and mate in late spring and summer, in some areas even throughout the year. The gestation period is 12 months. The newborn 84 to 110 cm long and weigh 9 to 21 kg. Young animals are more uniform and darker in color than the adults.

System

The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin was described in 1833 by the German zoologist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, was for a long time but only as a subspecies of the bottlenose dolphin ( T. truncatus ). Significant genetic differences, the greater number of teeth and other differences have recently led to a recognition as an independent art Possibly Tursiops aduncus closer to the spot dolphins (Stenella ) used as the bottlenose dolphin.