PHOTOS: Common Dolphins Back in the Adriatic

Common dolphins back in the Adriatic (Photo: Blue World Institute)

Common dolphins are back in the Adriatic.

Decades after common dolphins disappeared from the Adriatic, in recent years large groups have been starting to appear again. Researchers of Blue World Institute have found a group of over 50 common dolphins near the Kornati archipelago of Croatia.

Blue World Institute encountered the group of over 50 short-beaked common dolphins, a regional extinct species that no longer resides in the Adriatic after regular monitoring was carried out in July.

(Photo: Blue World Institute)

“A group of common dolphins we encountered about 2 NM west of Man isle in the Kornati area. We spent a little over two hours with them collecting information on their behavior and taking photographs needed for photo identification. It made us happy that there were young and a newborn baby among them. The dolphins occasionally swam at high speed and done jumps, we felt like we were on the ocean,” says Tihana Vučur, a researcher at the Blue World Institute.

(Photo: Blue World Institute)

(Photo: Blue World Institute)

Tihana’s colleague, researcher Marko Radulović, describes their encounter: “The dolphins were extremely moody. They were approaching our boat and floating in the bow thruster.”

“The common dolphins, as their name suggests, were the most numerous dolphins in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean Sea. Like the Mediterranean monk seal, the common dolphin is considered regionally extinct in the Adriatic Sea because for some decades there is no evidence of their persistence and reproduction, and observations are rare and usually involve only a few individuals. That is why meeting with this large group of common dolphins in the Adriatic is unique,” says Dr. Nikolina Rako Gospić, director of the Blue World Institute Research Program.

Check out some photos taken from the finding below.

(Photos: Blue World Institute)