FAMILY

DELPHINIDAE

DELPHINUS DELPHIS (SHORT-BEAKED COMMON DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
widely but discontinuously distributed in
warm temperate and tropical waters of the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans
regularly occurs in some enclosed seas,
such as the Okhotsk Sea and Sea of Japan
separate subpopulations exist in the
Mediterranean and Black seas
distribution of Delphinus delphis: warm
temperate, subtropical, and tropical waters
worldwide (Hammond et al. 2008; IUCN)
Type of distribution: pantropical

DELPHINUS CAPENSIS (LONGBEAKED COMMON DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
characterized by disjunct populations which are
found in warm temperate and tropical coastal
waters around the world
occurs in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the
east coast of South America, West Africa,
southern Japan, Korea and northern Taiwan
(and possibly China), central California to
southern Mexico, Peru, and South Africa
overall distribution remains imperfectly known
because of past confusion with D. delphis
type of distribution: unknown

TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS (COMMON

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS

found primarily in coastal and inshore regions of tropical

and temperate waters of the world
in the Atlantic T. truncatus occurs north to Massachusetts,
the southern coast of Iceland, northern Norway (Lofoten
Islands), the Mediterranean and Black seas
in the Pacific it ranges north to the Okhotsk Sea, the Skuril
Islands and Central California.
in the Southern Hemisphere T. truncatus occurs south to
Tierra del Fuego, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand
Type of distribution: pantropical

TURSIOPS ADUNCUS (INDO-PACIFIC

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
patchy distribution, but the species seems to be
widespread along the entire eastern coast of
Africa, through the Red Sea and Persian Gulf,
eastwards as far as Taiwan and south-eastward
to the coastal waters of Australia
Type of distribution: endemic

LISSODELPHIS BOREALIS (NORTHERN

RIGHT-WHALE DOLPHIN

CHARACTERISTICS
prefer cool, deep temperate waters
ranges in North Pacific, from the Kuril Islands
(Russia) south to the Sanriku coast of Honshu
(Japan), thence eastward across the Pacific, in
the Gulf of Alaska, to the west coast of North
America from British Columbia, Canada, to
northern Baja California, Mexico
Type of distribution : endemic

LISSODELPHIS PERONII
(SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE
DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
deep, cold temperate waters of the southern
hemisphere
ranges north to So Paulo in Brazil, in the
Benguela Current off Walvis Bay in Namibia, the
Great Australian Bight, the Tasman Sea, the
Chatham Islands, and in the Humboldt Current
off Pucusana in Peru
type of distribution: circumpolar in the
Subantarctic Zone.

SOTALIA FLUVIATILIS (TUCUXI)

CHARACTERISTICS
found along the Caribbean and Atlantic
coasts of Central and South America and in
the Amazon River and most of its
tributaries
type of distribution: endemic

SOTALIA GUIANENSIS (COSTERO)

CHARACTERISTICS
found in inshore coastal waters, estuaries, and
the lower reaches of rivers along the western
Atlantic from Nicaragua
found along the coasts of north-eastern South
America and eastern Central and South America
and in the Amazon River and most of its
tributaries
type of distribution: endemic

SOUSA CHINENSIS (INDO-PACIFIC

HUMPBACK DOLPHIN, CHINESE
WHITE DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
discontinuously distributed in coastal waters of
the Indian and Pacific Oceans
known areas of occurrence from west to east are
False Bay in Cape Province, north along the coast
of eastern Africa, including Madagascar, to the
Red Sea as far north as Gulf of Suez, the Arabian
Sea, and the Persian Gulf, thence east along the
coasts of southern Asia at least as far as
Vishakhapatam on the western Bay of Bengal
Type of distribution: endemic

SOUSA TEUSZII (ATLANTIC

HUMPBACK DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
ranges on the coast of West Africa from Dakhla
Bay in Western Sahara south to Tombua, in
southern Angola
type of distribution: endemic

STENELLA FRONTALIS (ATLANTIC SPOTTED

DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
found in warm, temperate, subtropical and
tropical waters in the North and South Atlantic.
ranges in the tropical and warm-temperate
Atlantic, north to the Gulf of Mexico, Cape Cod,
the Azores, and the Canary Islands, and south to
Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, Saint Helena, and
Gabon
type of distribution: endemic

STENELLA CLYMENE (CLYMENE

DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
the species prefers the tropical, subtropical and
occasionally the warm temperate waters of the
Atlantic Ocean
northernmost records are from New Jersey in
the western Atlantic and from Mauritania in the
eastern Atlantic
southernmost record on the west is from
southern Brazil, in the central Atlantic off
Ascension Island
type of distribution: endemic

STENELLA ATTENUATE
(PANTROPICAL SPOTTED
DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
are distributed in tropical and warm-temperate
waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans
ranges north to Massachusetts, the
islands of Cape Verde, the northern Red Sea,
Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, South
China Sea, East China Sea, Pacific coast of
northern Honshu, the Hawaiian Islands, and
Baja California Sur. Vagrant to Santa Cruz
County in California, and Cold Bay on the Alaska
Peninsula
type of distribution: pantropical

STENELLA COERULEOALBA
(STRIPED DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
warm temperate, subtropical, and tropical waters
around the world
ranges north in the Atlantic to Newfoundland,
northern Scotland, and Denmark; in the
Mediterranean Sea; and in the Pacific to the Sea
of Japan, Hokkaido, about 40N across the
western and central Pacific, and British
Columbia (Canada)
southern limit of its range is in Argentina, Cape
Province of South Africa, Southern Australia,
New Zealand, and Peru
type of distribution: cosmopolitan

STENO BREDANENSIS (ROUGH-TOOTHED

DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
deep tropical, subtropical and warm
temperate waters around the world
pantropical

CEPHALORHYNCHUS EUTROPIA (CHILEAN

DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
occur in coastal waters of the west coast of
southern Argentina
restricted to cold, shallow, coastal waters
distribution seems to be continuous, though
there seem to be areas of local abundance.
type of distribution: endemic

CEPHALORHYNCHUS
COMMERSONII (COMMERSONS
DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
found in southern South America, including the
Falkland/Malvinas Islands, and Kergulen
Islands in the Indian Ocean
endemic

CEPHALORHYNCHUS HEAVISIDII
(HEAVISIDES DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
range in close inshore waters of southwestern
Africa, from northern Namibia
endemic

CEPHALORHYNCHUS HECTORI
(HECTORS DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS

endemic to inshore waters of the main islands of

New Zealand especially South Island and the
western coast of North Island

GRAMPUS GRISEUS (RISSO'S

DOLPHIN)

CHARACTERISTICS
tropical and warm temperate waters in both
hemispheres
ranges north to Newfoundland, the Shetland
Islands, the North Sea, the Mediterranean Sea,
Ostrov Iturup in the Ostrova Kuril'skiye,
Koman-dorskiye Ostrova, northern Gulf of
Alaska, and Stuart Island in British Columbia
south down eastern South America as far as
Cabo de Hornos in Chile, to Cape Province in
South Africa, Geographe Bay in Western
Australia, Sydney in New South Wales, North
Island in New Zealand, and Valparaiso in Chile
endemic in distribution