I see yellow, I see yellow !!

Buenas buenas Sea friends,

Yesterday we had some nice resident species by our side.

We saw the famous and majestic Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and the colorful and impressive Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis).

In the Azores we have what we call the matriarchal pods of Sperm Whales which means the groups of females and little ones. This is exactly what we observed yesterday as we saw a little one been watched by two adult females, each one being on one side of the youngster. It was a very beautiful sighting even if they did some hide and seek with us by going for a few shallow dives from time to time. When you have a baby and an adult specimen next to each other it is very easy and fun to compare how little the head and blow can be compared to the one of the full-grown females.

Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) logging at the surface (picture from our library)

 

When we left the “Whale Zone” we came face to face with a part of the body of an octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) which we retrieved from the sea to help with the MONICEPH project.

Octopus / Haliphron atlanticus sample taken in collaboration with MONICEPH

 

Finally we reached an area where we found some well-known friends : the Common Dolphins. Some of them were a bit curious and came closer to have a look.

Common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) surfing the wake of the boat

Let’s seen what will be in “store” for us next time.

Seen you soon

Aurora Crucianelli

About Aurora Crucianelli

Aurora Crucianelli is an Environmental Biologist with a Master’s degree in Oceanography. She loves the sea and likes to scuba dive during her spare time. She also worked as a science teacher and enjoys educating people and share her passion for the ocean and wildlife.