Risso Dolphin ID by fins - for the public!

Today is a good day to solve some puzzles! In the morning trip we saw a group of at least 8 different Risso’s dolphins, that are easy to distinguish from each other by the marks in their dorsal fins. In the photo above you can see 6 dorsals from 6 different individuals from today. We would like to involve our clients from all previous years to do some puzzling – checking your old dorsal fin photos and maybe recognize some of yours, to be the same as the ones we saw today. Chances are pretty big that some are the same! Even better, you can go to the Monicet website here: http://www.monicet.net/en/catalog

Then filter “Specie” on “Gg – Risso’s dolphin – Grampus griseus” “Island – Sao Miguel” and you will see that at least 241 individual Risso’s dolphins have been sighted in our island over the years. This continuous photo ID data gives insight about life expectancy and distribution of the animals. Meaning, if the same individuals have been sighted many times over the years it can indicate where their preferred spots are, and that they are still alive. If somebody recognizes one of these dolphins from your own photos, let us know in the comments or by message/ email! 🙂

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