Bottlenose Dolphin

Bottlenose dolphin

The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus Tursiops. They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bottlenose dolphin, the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, and Tamanend's bottlenose dolphin. Others, like the Burrunan dolphin, may be alternately considered their own species or be subspecies of T. aduncus. Bottlenose dolphins inhabit warm and temperate seas worldwide, being found everywhere except for the Arctic and Antarctic Circle regions. Their name derives from the Latin tursio (dolphin) and truncatus for the truncated teeth.

Dolphin

A dolphin is any one of the 40 extant species of aquatic mammal from the cetacean families Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, Pontoporiidae, and the probably extinct Lipotidae. All these families belong to the parvorder Odontoceti, i.e., toothed whales, which also include the closely related families Monodontidae and Phocoenidae (porpoises), as well as the more distant families Physeteroidea and Ziphiidae.

bottlenose dolphin

Noun

1. One of the species of gray dolphin in the genus Tursiops, between two and four meters in length, inhabiting warm and temperate seas worldwide.