Common Bottlenose Dolphin Spotted In Canadian Waters

Featured Image Credit: lowjumpingfrog/Flickr
By Sarah Sharkey

The common bottlenose dolphin has been sighted in Canada. That’s right, the dolphin you associate with tropical and warm-temperate waters were found in Canada’s waters for the first time ever on July 29, 2017.

The sighting was not just a single stray dolphin, but an entire pod of around 200 animals. The massive pod was seen travelling with a group of about 70 false killer whales up the Canadian coast.

Image Credit: National Geographic Kids

The discovery took place during a pelagic seabird and marine mammal survey undertaken by S.S. John P Tully, a Canadian Coast Guard research ship. The water was a chilly 61.7 F (16.5C), but the dolphins did not seem to mind the temperature.

The boat spotted the pod when they were about 110 miles (180km) northwest of Vancouver Island. The location was about 620 miles (1000km) north of the typical range of the common bottlenose dolphin. In the past, there have been a few rare sightings of one or two common bottlenose dolphins further north than their usual range, but nothing even close to this most recent sighting.

The expanded range of these dolphins adds more support to the argument that there is a warming trend occurring in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

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