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Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Photograph © Graeme Cresswell.
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus)
Deilf Bhánchliathánach
The Atlantic white-sided dolphin is restricted to the North
Atlantic. It inhabits cool waters along the edge of the
continental shelf and over offshore banks. Sightings of Atlantic
white-sided dolphins were rare in all Irish inshore waters during
the reporting period. There were only 70 records, with an
average group size of 14 animals per encounter. Almost all
sightings are off the edge of the continental shelf and over
offshore banks. They were occasionally photographed by the
Irish Air Corp Maritime Squadron off west coast and northwest
waters. As with the striped dolphin, they were more regularly
recorded stranded than sighted and were the fifth most
frequently stranded cetacean in Irish waters. Sightings data
show a peak in July, which is likely to reflect opportunities to
survey their preferred offshore habitats during summer rather
than seasonal distribution.
stranded on the north and east coasts. This species is
susceptible to mass live stranding with the best documented
event in Ireland involving 19 individuals in Killala Bay, Co Mayo,
in September 1994. An unusually high number of white-sided
dolphins were live stranded in 2007. There were eight different
stranding events from January to September and from Kerry
to Donegal, though most (4) were in Donegal.
White-sided dolphins are frequently stranded in Ireland but
records are consistent and relatively stable. Strandings peaked
in March and April, which might be associated with bycatch in
pelagic fisheries for mackerel and horse-mackerel. Most
records are from the western seaboard with concentrations in
counties Galway and Mayo but white-sided dolphins have also
1
>1-10
>10-50
>50-100
>100
Figure 68. All IWDG sightings up to 2009.
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Irish Cetacean Review 2000-2009