Dolphins | Marine Biology

 Dolphins, one of my favourite marine mammals. They are incredibly intelligent, playful and emote just as much as humans. They are gorgeous creatures who don’t deserve to be treated the way that we do.

Let’s bring some context to this; Dolphins are small-toothed cetaceans easily recognizable by their curved mouths, which give them a permanent “smile.” But are dolphins fish? The simple answer to that is no, they are mammals, they fit into all the criteria of being a mammal; they are warm blooded, they breath through lungs, they give birth to offspring, they produce milk for their young and they have body hair.

There are 36 dolphin species, found in every ocean. Most dolphins are marine and live in the ocean or brackish waters along coastlines. However, classification is not an exact science and as more information and discoveries come to light, deliberations will continue and some dolphin species are likely to be further split into more than one species and/or subspecies.


Dolphins are considered one of the world's most intelligent animals, and they have several cognitive abilities that set them apart. Many researchers consider intelligence to be a combination of perception, communication, and problem-solving. Communication is a big part of how dolphins socialize and hunt. They have the ability to echolocate with a series of clicks, allowing them to find other dolphins or similar species and prey even in the low-light conditions of the ocean.

For centuries, people have hunted dolphins for their meat and blubber. Today, their main threat comes from being caught accidentally in commercial fishing nets. Dolphins are also captured and made to perform in aquatic parks. However, for every dolphin that is captured, about 12 are accidentally caught in fishing nets, and killed. Dolphins are now being killed as an excuse for overfishing; the fish being caught happens to be the diet of dolphins, and they are killed with the reason for the depletion of the target fish. In addition to hunting and entanglement in fishing gear, freshwater dolphins face the additional threat of dams fragmenting and degrading habitat.

If you enjoyed reading this, you might like my previous post on Clownfish, check it out

https://musings-of-a-musical-biologist.blogspot.com/2021/05/coral-bleaching-marine-biology.html



Citation

Dolphins-

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/dolphins

Are dolphins fish?

https://content.dolphinsplus.com/dolphin-facts-everything-you-need-to-know#are_dolphins_intelligent

Classification-

https://uk.whales.org/whales-dolphins/facts-about-dolphins/


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