Wednesday 26 August 2009 Spinner dolphin

The Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is a relatively common dolphin found across the globe; however the conservation status of this species is data deficient currently, so whether it is a threatened or non-threatened species is as of yet unknown. They live in tropical waters that are deep, and they occur in all oceans which have a tropical temperature, additionally they may congregate near shorelines as occurs in Hawaii. The largest population of Spinner Dolphin is between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, as those waters are best suited for them. It is thought that the Hawaiian or Gray Spinner Dolphin is endangered due to many of the old fishing practices which would regularly entrap dolphins and end up killing them. Their main locations are divided up into several subspecies, and it is due to this along with the difficulties of actually counting and cataloguing this species that their current world population is unknown, however it is obvious that their numbers across the world were culled dramatically during the period of unsafe mass fishing. They are usually a dark gray with darker and differing patches of gray at the tail, on their backs, and on their throats. They will also usually have a lighter belly and their beaks, or nose, is very long and thin, and has a unique dark top that varies from each individual. In fact they are the most varied in colorations, as even though what has been said is common, from one dolphin to the next they are recognizably different. They weigh from 50 to 171 pounds (23 to 78kg), and measure from 4 to 7.5 feet (1.2 to 2.3 meters) in length, and it is known that they mature from seven to ten years, however how long they can live is unknown (but likely past 40 as is ewebsiteofeverything.com/animals/mammals/Dasyuromorphia/">Dasyuroids