kanaloa

Bottle Nose Dolphins

Bottlenose Dolphin

(Tursiops truncatus)

Despite the similarity in names, the Bottlenose Dolphin is unlike the Bottlenose Beaked Whale either in general appearance or in size . These dolphins are common in the North Atlantic and are found in the North and Baltic Seas, the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
They are the most numerous of all dolphins along the Atlantic coast of the United States, ranging according to season from Maine to Florida and Barbados, and along the Gulf coast.
Other species closely allied to this dolphin live in the North Pacific Ocean, the Australian seas, where they are known as "Cowfish," the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the coastal waters of South Africa, and along the coasts of Argentina and Brazil.
be recognized by the purplish lead-gray upper parts, the short beak, seldom more than three inches long, the lower jaw slightly longer than the upper, and 20 to 26 teeth on each side in each jaw. Adults attain a length of 11 or 12 feet.
Large schools numbering several hundreds, scattered over the ocean for half a mile or so, have been seen near the Galapagos Islands. Spectacular leaps are often made by members of a school as it passes near a ship. On coming to the surface, the dolphin cuts the water cleanly and may rise twice its own length above the surface before plunging nose first or falling on its back or side. 
Fishermen say that the very young calf swims a little ahead of its mother and that it is pushed to the surface each time she rises to breathe. Along the Hatteras coast, Bottlenose Dolphins feed on squeteague, or weakfish, and elsewhere on various shoal fish.

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