 Name : Long-Finned Pilot Whale
Scientific Name : Globicephala melaena
Class : Mammalia
Family : Delphinidae
Order : Cetacea suborder - Odontoceti
Shape : This animal's body is long and sturdy, with a front that is more massive than the back. The peduncle is laterally compressed. A rounded frontal prominence dominated this animal's cephalic area and grows with age. Newborns do not have teeth, which appears when the dolphin reaches 2.13 m and stop growing when it reaches 2.70 m. Adults have 8 to 10 big cone-shaped teeth approximately 5 cm on each side of both jaws.
Fins : The dorsal fin is rather low and extended (it is twice as long as it is high); it is falcate and placed a little ahead of the midpoint on the back (variable). The flippers are up towards the front of the body; they are falcate and quite long. The flukes have a median notch.
Length : The male measures between 6 - 8.50 metres and the female between 5 - 6 metres. Newborns measure 1.70 - 1.80 metres.
Weight : Males can weigh more than 4 metric tons and females more than 2 metric tons.
Colour : This animal is generally black, with a dark grey mark on its back behind the dorsal fin and a small mark of the same colour behind each ear. "W"- shaped greyish- white patch on throat.
Diet : It varies from one place to the next, depending on the prey's seasonal availability. When octopus is rare, it eats, among other fish, herring and mullets. It eats between 14 - 35 kg of food per day.
Population : It is a common species in the northern Atlantic, although its population has clearly diminished due to hunting, especially off the Faeroe Islands.
Migration : This dolphin apparently migrates seasonally, due to water temperatures and probably also prey availability. |
