Cetaceans in Greece: Present status of knowledge

Drawing by Massimo Demma / ICRAM
Taxonomy
Tursiops truncatus (Montagu, 1821)
Order: Cetacea (Κητώδη)
Suborder: Odontoceti (Οδοντοκήτη)
Suprafamily: Delphinoidea (∆ελφινοειδή)
Family: Delphinidae (∆ελφινίδες)
Genus: Tursiops
Species: Tursiops truncatus
Relevant common names
Bottlenose dolphin
Scientific name: Tursiops truncatus
Common Ρινοδέλφινο
name:
Transcription: Rinodélfino
Pronunciation: rinoðélfino
EN common bottlenose dolphin AR (delphin kabir)
FR grand dauphin TR afalina
ES delfín mular AL delfin i madh
IT tursiope HR dobri dupin
DE Grosser tümmler HE (dolphinan yam hatichon)
PT roaz corvineiro ML denfil geddumu qasir
Size
The common bottlenose dolphin is the second largest dolphin species regularly occurring in
the Greek Seas after the Risso’s dolphin. The average total length of 185 stranded
specimens measured in Greece is 2.44 m (sd=0.55). The maximum total lengths for males
and females are 3.30 and 3.20 m respectively, and the minimum is 1.10 m for a neonate
bearing fetal folds. The longest specimens in the Mediterranean Sea were a male 3.38 m
(Universitat de Barcelona 1994) and a female also 3.38 m (Centro Studi Cetacei 1996). The
maximum length world-wide is 3.81 m and length at birth ranges between 1.03 and 1.28 m
(Wells & Scott 1999).
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