Mammals · Artiodactyla · Delphinidae

Peale's Dolphin

Lagenorhynchus australis

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

Peale's dolphin is a robust, boldly marked dolphin with a black back, grey flanks and a characteristic white patch in the armpit of the pectoral fin. It lives in the cold waters of southern Chile and Argentina, the Falkland Islands and Cape Horn. It is highly sociable and habitually accompanies boats. It is often seen hunting inside the giant kelp forests, a habitat little used by other dolphins.

Weight

100 kg – 115 kg

Size

2.1 m – 2.2 m

Lifespan

13 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Social structure

Herd

Lives in large groups as a strategy against predators.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

OceanCarnivore In herds Ocean Mammal

4countries 16parks 2dive sites17same family

Fun facts

It is one of the few dolphins that habitually hunts within the giant kelp forests of Patagonia, moving between the fronds to corner fish.
It is named after the American naturalist Titian Peale, who described it during the Wilkes expedition of 1839.
It lives in association with the kelp forests: it swims and hunts along the channels the kelp leaves open, an unusual habitat for a dolphin.
It eats mainly fish and bottom-dwelling invertebrates, as well as molluscs and cephalopods.
Together with the dolphins of the genus Cephalorhynchus, it is one of the few dolphins that do not whistle: it communicates with narrow-band, high-frequency clicks.
During the 1970s and 1980s Chilean fishermen killed thousands each year to use as bait in king-crab pots, a practice that has declined but whose true scale was never quantified.
The oldest individual dated was 13 years old, from a sample of only 23 aged animals, so its real longevity is probably greater.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Coastal waters and continental shelf of the southern cone of South America, including the kelp forests
Litter / clutch size: 1

Sources consulted: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagenorhynchus_australis