Grab your snorkel gear, we are jumping in the water!
I have had the opportunity to be on boats in the salt waters and I have seen many dolphins in the wild, but this is the first time I have seen 2 dolphins crash in the water…. sorta reminds me of two snorkeling buddies who did the same thing. The first video is my snorkel buddies and the second video is my dolphin buddies… so grab your snorkel gear!
We found this video on the TODAY Show.
We often get asked… can a dolphin breathe underwater?
It depends on which dolphin you are referring to. The mammal or the fish. When someone mentions the word dolphin they are more than likely referring to the marine mammal we see on television as well as aquatic shows at large aquariums. The mammal has to take air in from an air filled environment because, like humans, this type of dolphin has lungs. Wiki will tell you more about this mammal. It should be noted this mammal is considered to rank pretty high with regard to intelligence, read a previous blog we wrote, Dolphin Sushi.
The mammal called the Dolphin and the fish called the dolphin fish, may share the name but not the same characteristics. The dolphin fish takes water through its gills where the oxygen needed to sustain its life is pulled directly from the water through a series of what are called gills. Ask a Scientist, gives more information on the dolphin fish and you can find more on Wiki.
The dolphin fish goes by other names depending on how it was named in different languages. The Dolphin Fish and the Dolphin (mammal) are only related in name not in biology. Dolphin Fish is found in Super markets, fish markets and even on menus in restaurants world wide. I have yet to see it packaged as Dolphin Fish. Restaurants, fish markets etc probably got tired of explaining the differences between the fish and the mammal, so the dolphin fish is usually sold by its Hawaiian name which is Mahi-Mahi.
So if you are referring to the mammal then no it can not breathe under the water. It holds its breath. If you are referring to the Dolphin Fish then yes it does breathe under water.
While this is a few years old, I found these two videos that are quite exciting… thought I would share!
This video was taken from a whale watching boat off the coast of San Diego. The captain said it was the largest pod of dolphins he had ever seen …
This video was shot in the Sea of Cortez between Isla La Guardia & Baja De Los Angeles. While fishing, this is what the men saw, a pod of several hundred dolphins.
How did we miss this story? We love FLIPPER! Well actually this adorable disabled dolphin is Winter and he is missing his fin but doing well. (We grew up with Flipper and call all dolphins FLIPPER and actually all clownfish NEMOS… )
Fox TV station reports that now Winter is offering “sit-ins” and his home in Clearwater, FL is welcoming the guests.
Read more at the MyFox Station and watch the video that is about Winter.
Being a long time snorkeler meaning the love for snorkeling, dolphins are one of my favorite underwater mammals. We found this article and thought you would enjoy it also.
Well if that title didn’t get you to raise an eyebrow or two then I don’t know what will. This article is not about making Sushi of dolphins. It is about Dolphins being rather elaborate with regard to preparing their own meals.
I came across this article while diving the net and found it to be quite amazing. I don’t think I really ever realized that dolphins, or any animal for that matter, to be picky in what they eat (cats are an exception to the rule). When I learned about animals in school, it was contained to carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. It seems that Dolphins are pretty unique in the fact that when they eat cuttlefish, they go through some pretty elaborate preparations before they actually eat it. The article is from Reuters which I found at and is a very interesting read. It seems that Australian scientists have observed a wild female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin go through a precise and elaborate procedure in order to dine on cuttlefish. Catching and eating it is not enough. The preparations include flushing the cuttlefish out of hiding, trapping and killing it, getting rid of the ink (which is the cuttlefish’s defense), scraping it along the sandy bottom to expose and remove the cuttlefish bone which was followed by eating it. Another article which is a bit more in depth (no pun intended) states that “dolphins are well known for their complex social and foraging behaviours” but observing this behaviour under the water is rare. They did observe pods of dolphins from the surface passing the site where the under water behavior was seen. Their passage was marked by fully intact cuttlefish bones (which are buoyant) floating to the surface. This gives rise to the idea that this is a learned behavior and not just a one dolphin occurrence. Here is the complete article from Plosone.org.
