new species in the azores

During the last day´s our vigia Anteiro Suarez spotted some dolphins that he could not identify. So he sent one of our boats there. It was La madrugada with Skipper Leonildo on board who saw a group of about 20 animals.
Fraser's Dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei) have never been reported in our waters. But this year the water is extremly warm and that might be the reason for this species which is normally found between between 30° S and 20° N. We are about 1.000 miles more north. Maybe it is also a result of global warming. Only today we saw pictures from the satelite the the greenland glacier has an enormes crack. Let´s wait and see what reactions show up. For me the presence of species that life more in tropical waters and now show up in azorean waters is a north and south expansion of species. During the last years already other ceatcea have been sighted that we never saw before such as Bryde Whales and Longfin Pilot Whales.



Fraser Dolphins' are about 1 m long and 20 kg weight at birth, growing to 2.75 m and 200 kg at adulthood. They have a stocky build, a small fin in relation to the size of the body, conspicously small flippers. The dorsal fin and beak are also insubstantial. The upper side is a grey-blue to grey-brown. A dirty cream coloured line runs along the flanks from the beak, above the eye, to the anus. There is a dark stripe under this line.