One of the 17 dolphins on WAnimals
Mammals · Artiodactyla · Delphinidae
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
Stenella attenuata
Least Concern
The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk.
The pantropical spotted dolphin is one of the most abundant cetaceans in the world. Like the Atlantic spotted dolphin it is born plain and acquires its spots with age. It is fast, highly acrobatic and forms groups that can gather hundreds or thousands of animals. In the eastern tropical Pacific it swims in association with yellowfin tuna shoals, an association that cost millions of animals their lives in tuna purse seines between the 1950s and the 1980s.
Weight
90 kg – 120 kg
Size
1.6 m – 2.6 m
Life expectancy
40 years
