Futurismo Biologists TeamA foggy morning that soon turned into a sunny one! We went out to the sea and there was a bit of fog around the area making our trip somewhat more mysterious. We, however, managed to find a small pod of common dolphins!
There were about 15 of them which is quite a small group compared to what they can normally be.
They were milling and avoiding the boats a little so we continued to search for something else.
Quite soon after that we found another (different) group of common dolphins. This, too, was a group of about 15-20 individuals. Their behaviour was completely different from the last group! They were very actively foraging and the seagulls were active as well.
This second group of common dolphins we saw one dolphin that looked strange. It was one of the black editions!
In 2 years we identified 5 different dolphins that have this strange coloration, lacking the yellow color next to the eye, and in this case having only a small stripe of yellow under the eye (see photo).
We call these dolphins the “black edition”. We compared the individual to our catalogue of common dolphins and this individual has not been seen before, so now we have 6 black editions!
We approached this group and saw a huge school of fish! We understood why the dolphins were so active here. It was full of food!
We even saw some fish jumping out of the water. In the meantime we also saw some mating activity going on in front of the boat. It was a lovely pod of dolphins to view. By this time the sun has come out, making our trip more pleasant and warm. We were lucky to spend the way back to Ponta Delgada bathing in the sun and enjoying the wind in our backs.
Futurismo Biologists Team
Futurismo Biologists Team
Sandrina Rodrigues
