Species deep dive: White-beaked dolphins
- Mathilde
- 6 days ago
- 9 min read
''It's an early morning on the ferry crossing the North Sea. Days have merged, and I have no idea what day it is. All I know is that we are sailing along the Yorkshire coastline towards North Shields (Newcastle). It must have been an hour since I started, and I haven't seen anything yet. Which is not unusual, as there are plenty of days with no sightings at all. The occasional passenger comes by and enjoys the peaceful view of the North Sea from the observation deck. Suddenly, I noticed some splashes right on the horizon. I raise my binoculars and see that there are dolphins having a lot of fun! And we are going in the right direction, directly towards them. I tell the passengers around me that we have some dolphin action ahead of us. I am, at this point, still uncertain of the species, but the way they jump, I have a feeling. The excitement is building on the deck around me, as more and more people start seeing the splashes, they come closer to me, so they can hear me when I announce (shout) the name of the species. But then, as we got closer and started seeing their bodies, they stopped breaching. It's getting a bit more difficult to see them. However, I already had enough information, with their robust body, tall black falcate dorsal fins, the white/ grey patterns along the flanks, and their white beak; these are most definitely the white-beaked dolphins! Luckily, we do get some good close looks at these dolphins as we pass them and they decide to come up next to the boat for a couple of surfaces, and everyone out on deck gets to see them in all their beauty.'' (Summer 2023)
Whalecome to a new series on my blog: Species deep dive! In this series, I want to dive into different species that call the marine habitat their home. Whether it's whales, dolphins, seabirds, or other marine animals, let's learn more about these amazing animals of our seas and oceans through my experiences of seeing them in the wild. For this first instalment, I want to focus on one of my favourite dolphin species, the white-beaked dolphins Lagenorhynchus albirostris)!
You might have expected that I would start with a well-known species, but no, I simply love dolphins, and the white beaked dolphins are probably the species I have seen the most through the years.
My very first encounter with these playful dolphins was in 2019 in Skjálfandi bay, Iceland. I was out on one of the rib-boats in search of a Blue whale, which had been seen earlier that afternoon. We, unfortunately, didn’t get to see the blue whale. However, I was lucky enough to see my first ever breaching humpback whale and had my first ever sighting of white-beaked dolphins. They came, in true dolphin fashion, towards the rib, and swam with us, at the bow for a little bit. That trip, even without seeing the blue whale, remains very memorable. I must say, though, at the time, I was mostly focused on seeing all the whales. It was amazing to have seen the dolphins, but they hadn't managed to capture my attention just yet. For that, we need to fast forward a few years, to after the pandemic.
Where to find them?
It's actually in the North Sea, where I fell in love with these beautiful and acrobatic dolphins. I got to see them quite frequently from the DFDS ferry between the UK and the Netherlands. Whilst working on the ferry, guests tend to ask me, in surprise, ‘’Isn’t the North Sea too cold for dolphins?’’. The answer to this question is no. Let’s get this common misconception out of the way.
Unlike what many people think, dolphins aren’t a group of marine animals that can solely be seen in the tropics. Sure, many different species of dolphins prefer the warmer waters of the tropics. However, there are dolphin species that prefer colder temperate waters. The white-beaked dolphins are one of them. They prefer a water temperature between 5 and 15 degrees Celsius. They can only be found in the northern part of the North Atlantic. They have been recorded as far south as the Bay of Biscay and as far north as Svalbard (Spitsbergen) in the Arctic. They tend to be more common in European waters than in American waters. Iceland is probably one of the best places to see this species of dolphin. We do see them quite regularly here with Láki tours in Breiðafjörður.
What do they look like?
White-beaked dolphins are a fairly recognisable species with a tall black dorsal fin and white /grey patterns on their flanks. I have now seen them frequently enough that once that tall black falcate dorsal fin breaks the surface, I instantly know that this is a white beaked dolphin. If you are lucky enough to see the beak, you will notice that the beak is white (light) in colour, hence their name. They were first described in 1846 by British taxonomist Edward Gray, who gave them the scientific name of Lagenorhynchus albirostris. Which loosely translates to ''bottle snout white beak.''
The name white-beaked dolphin can be a bit deceiving, as only 7% of the population is believed to have a pure white beak. Around 52% have more of a grey beak with a white tip. The rest have white mottled with grey beaks, with either a white or a pink tip of the beak.
The white-beaks fall in the same family group of dolphins as Atlantic- and Pacific- White-sided dolphins. A fully grown male can grow to approximately 3 meters in length, while females are slightly smaller than 3 meters. They are well adapted to the cold waters, a fully grown adult weighs anywhere between 180 and 350kg, and around 30%-40% of their body weight consists of fat and blubber to keep them warm in the cold waters. A newborn calf is around 1m long and weighs up to 40kg. It's estimated that they reach sexual maturity between 8 and 10 years old; females reach this earlier than males. The maximum recorded age for females is 39, and for males, 32 years old. They can swim quite fast with speeds up to 30 km/h and be quite acrobatic.
Social structures of white-beaked dolphins
From the ferry, I have mostly seen them along the North East coast of England. White-beaks generally travel in small pods of 5 up to 30 individuals together. This is normally how I have seen them as well; in small pods, either casually swimming or in full acrobatic mode, or just milling around! However, it is also possible to see them in larger pods with over 100 individuals altogether. I have once been lucky enough to see a group with over 70 individuals altogether in the North Sea. Unfortunately, this happened during dinner time, and most passengers were in the restaurant rather than outside on the observation deck. It can be awkward at times when people come back from dinner and ask you what they missed. And then you mention the large group of dolphins. But then, of course, this is how it works in wildlife watching: you need to put in the effort and time in order to see the animals you want to see. It surprises me how often people expect to just come on the deck, stand there for 5 minutes, and then say, 'Well, nothing to see', or say, 'Where are these dolphins then?' These dolphins also work together to hunt. They mostly eat schooling fish, like herring and cod, but they can also sometimes eat squids and other crustaceans. When hunting, they work together, herding the schools of fish close together towards the surface. They sometimes even tail slap to stun their prey.
The reason I started to love them is because the North Sea at times can be very quiet with sea life, but with these dolphins suddenly popping up and giving a nice show, even if you see them for a mere minute, can bring joy to everyone's day! And they can be so acrobatic. I remember one time, when one dolphin kept breaching towards the ferry, and it wasn't just any breach, no, it was backflips! The social structure of these pods are, so-called fission-fusion social structure. This means the individuals in the pods don't necessarily have to be related to each other. They also don't always stay in the same groups. Social aggregations happen, and then it's possible to see hundreds of dolphins all together. Once they separate again, they might form new groups. Within these larger groups, sexual segregation has been observed, where all female groups are called parties and all male groups are called alliances. Research shows that these social structures can be quite complex, with stronger and weaker bonds between different individuals.
In the summer months, it's possible to see nursery groups, where females with calves form a big group and travel closer to shore. Specific nursery areas have been observed. For example, the Northumberland coastline in the UK, which is the area that the North Sea ferry crosses. Especially June & July, see an increase in white-beaked dolphins sightings closer to shore. In both locations where I have worked, I have been able to see these nursery groups. In the North Sea, you could tell that there were small dolphins in the group. However, here in Iceland, on whale watching boats, where it's possible to get quite close to them, that is when you can see how truly tiny these baby dolphins are! It's so adorably cute to see these mother-calf pairs. You can always tell when there are mother-calf pairs in a group. The calf will be very close to its mother, and their surfacing sequence is almost identical, but a split second apart; this counts for most cetaceans. Most calves are born between May and September, with a peak in June & July. The average gestation period (pregnancy) is 11 to 12 months.
Interaction with different species
On the ferry, these sightings of dolphins tend to be very quick, just a few minutes at most. However, it is a completely different experience when you see them up close from a whale watching boat, like here in Iceland. Sometimes, these dolphins come towards our boat and start bow-riding and jumping around the boat, and can follow the boat for a long time indeed!
It's not uncommon to see them interacting with other species of cetaceans. I have seen them interacting with long-finned pilot whales, but also swimming together with orcas. In other parts, they have been seen interacting with many other species of dolphins, like common dolphins, Risso's dolphins, and the Atlantic white-sided dolphins. Research is still ongoing on the meaning of these connections between different species. Theories are that it could be for protection, foraging benefits, and social bonding. When white-beaks interact with larger whales, like the baleen whales, it's believed that this is due to that these whales can be ''messy'' eaters and therefore the dolphins can pick up all the leftover fish from the whales.
All in all, this is a beautiful species of dolphin that can be seen in the northern part of the Atlantic region. Places where you can potentially see them are around Iceland, Norway, and around the UK.
Sources:
Anders Galatius, Carl Christian Kinze, Lagenorhynchus albirostris (Cetacea: Delphinidae), Mammalian Species, Volume 48, Issue 933, 5 August 2016, Pages 35–47, https://doi.org/10.1093/mspecies/sew003
Bertulli, Chiara & Rasmussen, Marianne & Rosso, Massimiliano. (2021). Fission-fusion dynamics of a pelagic delphinid in the arctic: the white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris). Integrative zoology. 16. 10.1111/1749-4877.12524.
Bertulli, Chiara & Tetley, Michael & Magnúsdóttir, Edda & Rasmussen, Marianne. (2015). Observations of movement and site fidelity of white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) in Icelandic coastal waters using Photo-identification. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management. 15. 27-34. 10.47536/jcrm.v15i1.512.
Canning, Sarah & Santos, M. & Reid, Robert & Sabin, Richard & Bailey, Nick & Pierce, Graham. (2008). Seasonal distribution of white-beaked dolphins ( Lagenorhynchus albirostris) in UK waters with new information on diet and habitat use. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK. 88. 1159 - 1166. 10.1017/S0025315408000076.
Carwardine, M., Camm, M., Robinson, R., & Llobet, T. (2020). Handbook of whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the world. Princeton University Press.
Galatius, A., Kinze, C.C., Evans, P.G.H. (2021). White-Beaked Dolphin Lagenorhynchus albirostris (Gray, 1846). In: Hackländer, K., Zachos, F.E. (eds) Handbook of the Mammals of Europe. Handbook of the Mammals of Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65038-8_110-1 (I)
Schick, L., IJsseldijk, L. L., Grilo, M. L., Lakemeyer, J., Lehnert, K., Wohlsein, P., Ewers, C., Prenger-Berninghoff, E., Baumgärtner, W., Gröne, A., Kik, M. J. L., & Siebert, U. (2020). Pathological Findings in White-Beaked Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) and Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins (Lagenorhynchus acutus) From the South-Eastern North Sea. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7, 262. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2020.00262
Weir, C.R., Stockin, K.A. and Pierce, G.J., 2007. Spatial and temporal trends in the distribution of harbour porpoises, white-beaked dolphins and minke whales off Aberdeenshire (UK), north-western North Sea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 87(01), pp.327-338.
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