WHITE –BEAKED DOLPHIN

Bletthnýðingur

Lagenorhynchus albirostris

The white-beaked dolphin is the most common dolphin around Iceland and lives here in our Faxafloi bay all year round. It is a very beautiful rather dark grey dolphin, with a light pattern on the body which you can easily see when it is swimming around the boat. We often see the dolphins in small family groups of about 5 – 20 animals. Sometimes we spot them with their calves.

Like other dolphins in the world, white-beaked dolphins are very lively, playful, curious and often come close to the boat. They tend to stay on the surface a long time and they like bowriding which is the closest you can ever get to dolphins.

Watching dolphins is always fun. There is always something interesting going on, especially when they jump and splash. Their constantly surprising behaviour makes every whale watching tour unique and special.

Length: 2,5-3 metres

Weight: 180-350 kilos

Life expectancy: about 25 years

Status: most common dolphin around Iceland and in North Atlantic. It is found only in cold temperate to sub-Arctic waters of the North Atlantic

• Has a relatively tall, dark dorsal fin 
• Swims fast at around 30 mph but just for short bursts 
• Here seen mostly in groups from 5 to 20 members, but the groups are known to contain up to 1000 members
• Very sociable and likes to bowride unless when calves are present 
• Generally gives birth mid-summer when the sea is warmer and there’s more food around 
• A pod may ‘patrol’ sections of the sea, swimming metres apart, searching for food and then converge to eat it 
• Eats mainly schooling fish and, in late summer, also squid. Uses echolocation to locate their prey 
• Even though called white-beaked dolphin it doesn’t always have a white beak

Blettahnýðir, Weisschnauzendelphin, dauphin á nez blanc, Vitnos delfin, Valkonokkadelfiini, lagenorinco dal becco bianco