Temptation takes you swiming with the dolphins in south australia

Common Dolphins

Species: Delphinus Delphis - short beaked Delphinus capensis - long beaked	Order: Cetacea
Family: Delphinidae	Sub order: Odontaceti
Class: Mammalia	Genus: Delphinus

South Australia is home to thousands of common dolphins. They live in the blue deeper waters off Adelaide and around Kangaroo Island.

Commons are totally different to bottlenose - they are smaller with a lot more energy. They don’t like swimmers but do like a fast moving boat.

Pod sizes are around 50 but I have had three pods join together to make an exciting sail.

Common dolphins whistles can easily be heard on deck.

Colour: Black on top and white under belly with cream sides. Common dolphins have clean lines with an hour glass shape on their flanks. Their clean lines makes it hard to tell them apart

Fins: The fin on a Common dolphin is the best way to identify individual dolphins.

Length & Weight: (Australian waters) Full grown 2m and weigh as much as 125kg.

Lifespan: Common dolphins live between 35-40 years.

Hunting: Common dolphins spread out over a ½ km radius. When a school of fish is located they will all come in to the school. I have not seen them herd fish instead the dolphins use their speed and split the schools into small schools. Common dolphins regularly follow prawn trawlers for an easy feed (discarded fish picked up from the prawn nets).

Breeding: The female reaches sexual maturity at around 4 years with a gestation period of 11 months.

Threats: In South Australia their threats are minimal, but around the world many commons get caught in purse seine nets.