Bottlenose Dolphin
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Bottlenose Dolphin Habitat

Bottlenose Dolphins are found all over the world, except for the cold Arctic and Antarctic oceans. Bottlenose Dolphin habitats exist in temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the world and the characteristics of these habitats naturally varies considerably from location to location. 

Bottlenose Dolphin habitat: the Atlantic Ocean

In the Atlantic, the Bottlenose Dolphin habitat is located from Nova Scotia and Norway in the north to Patagonia and South Africa in the south. The pelagic zone is an important Bottlenose Dolphin habitat, and so are bays, gulfs, lagoons and estuaries along the coastlines of Europe, Africa and the Americas. The northwest Atlantic is a Bottlenose Dolphin habitat where you can find two different ecotypes of Bottlenose Dolphin: the coastal type and the offshore type.

Bottlenose Dolphin habitat: the Pacific Ocean

In this Bottlenose Dolphin habitat, you can find dolphins from northern Japan down to Australia, and from California down to Chile. In the eastern tropical Pacific they are frequently seen around the Hawaiian Islands.  

Bottlenose Dolphin habitat: the Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is an important Bottlenose Dolphin habitat and you can encounter dolphins all they way from South Africa to Australia. They are found in the pelagic zone as well as in lagoons, gulfs, estuaries and bays.

Bottlenose Dolphin habitat: the Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean population of Bottlenose Dolphin was fewer than 10,000 in 1991. No one knows exactly how large the population is today.

Bottlenose Dolphin habitat: species and subspecies

Different types of Bottlenose Dolphins are found in different Bottlenose Dolphin habitats. The Bottlenose Dolphin was once considered one single species, but it is now common to divide Bottlenose Dolphins into two separate species: the Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncates, and the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops aduncus. Some experts also divide Tursiops truncates into two subspecies: Pacific Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus gillii) and Black Sea Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ponticus).

• Common Bottlenose Dolphin habitats (Tursiops truncatus ponticus) are found all over the world. You can distinguish this creature from the other Bottlenose Dolphins by looking at the side of its body; the Common Bottlenose Dolphin has a distinct dark line running between the beak and the blowhole.

• The Indo-Pacific is naturally where you find the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin habitat (Tursiops aduncus). These dolphins inhabit the waters near India, Australia and southern China. They have white bellies with grey spots, and their backs are of a dark grey shade.

• The Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin habitat (Tursiops truncatus gillii) is the Pacific Ocean, and this subspecies is common in both the eastern and western parts of the ocean. You can recognize it on the dark line that runs from the forehead to the eyes.

• The Black Sea Bottlenose dolphin habitat (Tursiops truncatus ponticus) is of course the Black Sea. The Black Sea is an inland sea located between Anatolia and the south-eastern parts of Europe. It is connected to the Mediterranean and to the Sea of Azov.