| Striped Dolphin | Saddleback Dolphin |
|---|---|
| LENGTH | |
| To about 9 feet (2.7 m) ormore. | Seldom greater than 7.5 feet (2.3 m). |
| COLORATION | |
| Back from light gray to darkgray to bluish gray; sidesgray; belly gray or white;distinctive black lateralstripping from 1) eye toflipper, 2) eye to anus, and 3)dark color behind dorsal finforward, towards but notreaching head. | Back basically black orbrownish; distinct whitechest or belly patch;hourglass or crisscrosspattern on the sides;distinct black stripe fromflipper to middle of lowerjaw. |
Distribution
Striped dolphins are widely distributed in the temperate, subtropical, and tropical seas of the western North Atlantic. They have been reported from at least Halifax, Nova Scotia, south as far as Jamaica. (Additional records, purportedly from southern Greenland, involved a museum specimen. Since striped dolphins of the eastern North Atlantic are rare north of England, the species occurrence near Greenland would be highly improbable.) Individuals have recently been reported from the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite this wide distribution, striped dolphins appear to prefer warmer waters and are probably normally confined to the Gulf Stream or the waters off the continental slope. Individuals appearing to the north of the range seem to have ventured northward with fingers of warm water.
Stranded Specimens
Stranded striped dolphins should be readily identifiable by the highly distinctive patterns of lateral striping discussed above for living animals. If the color pattern has faded, they may still be identified by their size, larger than other dolphin species of similar appearance, and the relatively large number of teeth (43-50 per side in both upper and lower jaws). Only the spinner dolphin, much smaller in body length and having a much longer beak, has more teeth (46-65 per side in each jaw).
