Bottlenose Dolphins Costa Adeje

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Some video from todays encounter with Bottlenose dolphins on our Costa Adeje whale and dolphin watching tours. They are often very active, approaching the whale watching boat, with spectacular leaps and engaging activity for the guests to observe.

Costa Adeje is the home to a large resident population of Bottlenose dolphins of two distinct eco-types. These are the ‘coastal’ and ‘oceanic’ eco-types of Bottlenose dolphins. While their DNA make-up is the same, their environment and lifestyle have created some physical differences that stand out between the two groups.

Costal Bottlenose dolphins, as the name suggests, spend most of their time close to the shoreline of Costa Adeje. Their family pods are typically smaller, 6-10 individuals, they are smaller bodied and usually lighter in color. Their diet is also different, while small schooling fish make up the majority of their prey, they have also been known to eat garden eels (a type of eel that lives in the shallow sediment) and crustaceans.

Oceanic Bottlenose dolphins spend their lives in the deep ocean between Tenerife and La Gomera. This different environment means they spend more time swimming as their prey are always moving. This is mostly small schooling fish and pelagic crustaceans, even some ocean squid. The oceanic eco-type tends to live in larger pods, is larger bodied and often with darker countershading.

Join us to explore the realm of the cetaceans along Costa Adeje in Tenerife. We often observe some of the resident Bottlenose dolphins on our whale and dolphin watching tours. We hope you can join our little eco-adventures in Tenerife!

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About the Author:

We are a small group of Marine Biologists, Naturalists and Photographers living in Tenerife. When we don't have whale and dolphin watching tours you will find us out on the boat, exploring all the amazing marine wildlife of Costa Adeje, Tenerife. We love what we do, we support research and conservation projects and we hope you will join us.