Monday, July 7, 2008   Rough-toothed dolphins beach at Cape Panwa

After furter treatment by marine biologists from the nearby Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) in Cape Panwa, the three lucky survivors were taken back to sea by boat.


As local newspapers wrote, the rescue comes one week after the carcass of a female striped dolphin was discovered washed ashore at Baan Dan in Thalang and nine days after a pod of false killer whales beached at Koh Racha. The last was one of the largest mass strandings of cetaceans in the region and it is unknown if there are common reasons for this unusual events to occur several times in a row.

It is still unclear why the three rough-toothed dolphins, adult specimens of more than 100 kilogram weight and 20 years of age, went into the coastal mangrove forest, as their natural habitat is the open sea. They are generally thought to be rare in the waters around Phuket Island, however not much is really known about abundance and distribution of the species. Also a pod of normal size seems to be around 20 individuals, up to 50, not only three dolphins.

Rough-toothed dolphins are long-beaked dolphins with a smooth and stocky body adapted to their lives on the high oceans; the large flippers are also set further back on the body than in most other cetaceans. Rough dolphins are counter-shaded with white bellies and black to dark grey backs.

Links of Interest:

• False killer whales beach at Koh Racha
• Description of Steno bredanensis by the CMS