Bottle-nosed Dolphin 



a tooth on each side of the lower jaw at about the middle, 

 female toothless. Skin very smooth and polished, uniform 

 black all over with occasional lighter blotches. 

 Range. North Atlantic, apparently a deep-water species. 



DOLPHINS AND PORPOISES 



Family Delphinida 



The smaller cetaceans, popularly known as dolphins and por- 

 poises, compose this family. Properly speaking, the name dolphin 

 belongs to those species which have a projecting snout, while 

 porpoise refers to those with uniformly rounded head. With 

 their usual perversity, however, our earliest settlers christened the 

 commonest of these animals on our Atlantic Coast the " porpoise,'' 

 while in reality it is a true dolphin, the same as the "bottle- 

 nose " of the coasts of Europe. 



Both dolphins and porpoises have a well-developed fin on the 

 back and with one exception (the Grampus} have a large number 

 of sharp teeth in both jaws. 



The other members of the family, the white whale and the 

 narwhal are found only in the Arctic regions and are peculiar in 

 many ways. Both lack the dorsal fin and the narwhal is devoid 

 of teeth except for the single long protruding tusk. 



Bottle-nosed Dolphin 



Tursiops tursio (Fabricius) 



Called also Porpoise on our Atlantic Coast. 



Length. 9 feet. 



Description. Stout, forehead sloping, beak short and depressed, 

 back fin about midway between the nose and the tip of the 

 tail. Colour plumbeous gray above, lighter on the sides, 

 shading gradually into pure white on the under surface. Teeth 

 22 in each jaw. 



Range. North Atlantic coasts from Maine to Florida and through 

 the Gulf to Texas, also coasts of Europe. 



This is the most familiar cetacean of our Atlantic seaboard, 



