Striped Dolphin

Stenella coeruleoalba

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetartiodactyla
Family: Delphinidae
Genus: Stenella
Species: Stenella coeruleoalba

The striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is an oceanic dolphin with a bold dark stripe running from the eye to the flipper and another along the lower flank, plus a pale blaze sweeping up toward the dorsal fin. Adults reach about 2.5 m.

Striped dolphins are energetic swimmers that often leap high and perform rapid bursts of breaching. They feed on small mid-water fish and squid, sometimes diving several hundred metres, and usually travel in groups of dozens.

In the Philippines they occur over deep offshore waters and are recorded less often than spinner or spotted dolphins. They tend to be shy of boats, so sightings are usually brief glimpses from the surface.

Photo: Lucas Benaiche, CC BY-SA 4.0, via iNaturalist