Rarely-seen dolphins are spotted
SCIENTISTS have captured photographs of a rarely seen species of dolphin off the north Wales coast.
Little is known about the mysterious Risso’s dolphin and its whereabouts around the UK, but this striking species spends the months of late summer into autumn using the waters off our shores.
Sea Watch Foundation, the national charity that monitors whales and dolphins says it has had a “particularly large number of encounters” with the animals in recent months as well as hearing about further sightings from members of the public.
It has managed to take pictures of the dorsal fins on their back in order to compare them to a maintained catalogue of individuals.
This particular species of dolphin has a highly variable dorsal fin shape which can sometimes be so tall and straight that they are mistaken for their larger relatives, the killer whale.
The team at Sea Watch Foundation is trying to fill in the missing puzzle pieces with help from members of the public.
Kathy James, sightings officer for Sea Watch Foundation said: “If people can report their dolphin sightings to us we are able to build up a picture of where these animals are and when.
“Some folk might even be lucky enough to get a photograph of these striking animals and we could then match that to our catalogue.”
Previous fin-matches have indicated that some Risso’s dolphins travel between Pembrokeshire and north Wales, north Wales and the Isle of Man, and even between west Wales and west Scotland.
There are many different whale and dolphin species that can be recorded in Welsh waters as well as the diminutive harbour porpoise.
Members of the public are urged to report their sightings to the national cetacean database held by Sea Watch in order to help protect them going forward.
Katrin Lohrengel, monitoring officer for the charity said: “This year our monitoring efforts have been bolstered by Natural Resources Wales allowing us access to their boat, Pedryn, for five dedicated marine mammals surveys in August and September.
“On these surveys we encountered some 74 Risso’s dolphins as well as having 20 common dolphin sightings, comprising many individuals, and bottlenose dolphins too.”
Just last week, Katrin made the discovery that two particular Risso’s dolphins were seen together off Bardsey Island both in 2007 and 2017.
She’s also picked up on plenty of matches from around Anglesey too.
“With help from the public, we’re hoping to make many more discoveries about these dolphins that make Wales their part-time home” she added.