Wildlife
Pantropical dolphins are the ones on dolphin friendly tuna. They follow shoals of yellowfin tuna in the eastern Pacific and are in turn followed by fishermen after the tuna. Some of the dolphins in tuna fishing areas have learned to avoid boats altogether.
Scientific name: Stenella attenuata
Rank: Species
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Swimming with dolphins
Spotted dolphins' complex communication is heard underwater.
Swimming with dolphins has almost become a cliché now, but Sir David did it back in 1990 not for his benefit but for ours - to show us something of the body language and sounds that dolphins use to communicate.
The following habitats are found across the Pantropical spotted dolphin distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Population trend: Unknown
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The Pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata) is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The species was beginning to come under threat due to the killing of millions of individuals in tuna purse seines. The 1980s saw the rise of "dolphin-friendly" tuna capture methods in order to save millions of the species in the eastern Pacific Ocean and it is now one of the most abundant dolphin species in the world.
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Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Pack-hunter
Active at birth
Predator
Social
Echolocation and ultrasound
Visual communication
Viviparous