How do spinner dolphins survive?

How do spinner dolphins survive?

The Hawaiian population of spinner dolphins spend their daylight hours in coastal waters, generally in calm bays. They use these areas to rest, socialize, care for their young, and avoid predators. At night, they travel to deeper water to hunt for food.

How do spinner dolphins adapt to their environment?

Adaptations. Stenella longirostris have many developments that will aid in adapting to a marine lifestyle. Spinner dolphins can hold their breath for up to eight minutes and have many specialized physical characteristics that allow them to jump, leap, and spin, such as a narrow ribcage and elongated, slender bodies.

How do spinner dolphins protect themselves?

The best defense mechanism that dolphins have is their social organization and the strong bonds between them. These groups make sharks, the only predator that dolphins have to face, to avoid approaching the pod. When threatened or attacked, dolphins use their speed and agility hit predators.

What does a spinner dolphin do in the water?

The spinner starts to spin in the water just before emerging head first and leaping up to 3m into the air, spinning continuously before falling back into the sea. Spinner dolphins are very popular with dolphin watchers as their acrobatic behaviour is spectacular. Other names: Spinner; long-beaked dolphin; long-snouted dolphin.

Where do spinner dolphins live in the world?

Spinner dolphins live in all tropical and most subtropical waters around the world across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The most common subspecies is called Gray’s spinner and is found throughout the spinner’s tropical and subtropical range except in parts of tropical Asia and Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP).

How often do spinner dolphins rest during the day?

They may engage in resting behaviors for about four to five hours daily. This behavior may vary seasonally, coinciding with the shifts in day length. During rest, spinner dolphins rely on vision rather than echolocation for scanning their environment.

Is the spinner dolphin protected under the marine mammal protection act?

Spinner dolphins, like all marine mammals, are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Eastern stock in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean is listed as depleted under the MMPA. NOAA Fisheries is committed to conserving and protecting spinner dolphins.