Mammals of the WorldFraser's Dolphin
Lagenodelphis hosei
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Lagenodelphis
- IUCN status
- LC
- Distribution
- Angola|Argentina|Australia|Brazil|Brunei|Cape Verde|Colombia|Comoros|Cook Islands|Costa Rica|Dominica|Ecuador|French Polynesia|Ghana|Guadeloupe|Indonesia|Japan|Kenya|Kiribati|Madagascar|Malaysia|Maldives|Martinique|Mauritius|Mayotte|Micronesia|Mozambique|Nauru|Oman|Palau|Panama|Papua New Guinea|Philippines|Puerto Rico|Réunion|Saint Vincent and the Grenadines|Samoa|Senegal|Seychelles|Solomon Islands|South Africa|Spain|Canary Islands|Sri Lanka|Suriname|Taiwan|China|Thailand|United States|Uruguay|Venezuela|Vietnam|American Samoa?|Anguilla?|Antigua and Barbuda?|Aruba?|Bahamas?|Bahrain?|Bangladesh?|Barbados?|Belize?|Benin?|Bermuda?|Bonaire?|Sint Eustatius?|Saba?|Cambodia?|Cameroon?|Cayman Islands?|Republic of the Congo?|Democratic Republic of the Congo?|Cuba?|Curaçao?|Cote d'Ivoire?|Djibouti?|Dominican Republic?|Egypt?|El Salvador?|Equatorial Guinea?|Eritrea?|Ethiopia?|Fiji?|French Guiana?|Gabon?|Gambia?|Grenada?|Guam?|Guatemala?|Guinea?|Guinea-Bissau?|Guyana?|Haiti?|Honduras?|India?|Iran?|Iraq?|Israel?|Jamaica?|Jordan?|North Korea?|South Korea?|Kuwait?|Liberia?|Marshall Islands?|Mauritania?|Mexico?|Morocco?|Myanmar?|Namibia?|New Caledonia?|Nicaragua?|Niue?|Northern Marianas?|Pakistan?|Peru?|Pitcairn?|Portugal?|Azores?|Madeira?|Qatar?|Saint Helena?|Saint Kitts and Nevis?|Saint Lucia?|Sint Maarten?|São Tomé and Príncipe?|Saudi Arabia?|Sierra Leone?|Singapore?|Somalia?|Spain?|Sudan?|Tanzania?|East Timor?|Togo?|Tonga?|Trinidad and Tobago?|Turks and Caicos Islands?|Tuvalu?|United Arab Emirates?|Vanuatu?|British Virgin Islands?|United States Virgin Islands?|Wallis and Futuna?|Yemen?
- Realm
- Marine
Other names: Bornean Dolphin|Fraser's Porpoise|Hose's Dolphin|Sarawak Dolphin|Shortsnout Dolphin
About this species
- Size
- About 2.75m adult; about 1m at birth
- Weight
- About 200kg adult; about 20kg at birth
- Diet
- Pelagic fish, squid and shrimp found 200–500m down
- Habitat
- Deep waters
Fraser's dolphin, or the Sarawak dolphin, is a stocky oceanic dolphin of deep waters, found mainly in the Pacific and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The back is grey-blue to grey-brown, with a dirty cream line along the flank from the beak, above the eye, to the anus and a dark stripe below it. The belly and throat are usually white, sometimes tinged pink, and the lack of a prominent beak is distinctive. It can be confused with the striped dolphin (Wikipedia, general species account).
Adults are about 2.75 m long and 200 kg. It swims quickly in large, tightly packed groups of 100 to 1,000, often porpoising, and groups fleeing a fishing vessel have been described as very dramatic. It feeds on pelagic fish, squid and shrimp found 200–500 m down, where almost no sunlight reaches, and so uses echolocation alone. Its occurrence in Japanese waters is documented by the National Museum of Nature and Science marine-mammal database.
Description: Wildlife of Japan guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)