Dolphins or Porpoises?

[rancid badger]

I've been spending quite a bit of time over the summer, fishing on South Shields pier.

Summer's gone now but I was down there again today, in a howling gale, wondering why I had bothered, when the lad next to me says; "There's a porpoise!"

I looked over the wall and sure enough, there was!

But not just one or two, there must have been at least 30 of them, (probably a lot more) scattered across the sea in front of us, from just a few yards away to more than a mile off. They seemed to be hunting, as two or three would head in one direction and another few would head towards them, only to have the whole lot change direction and go back the way they'd come or dive all at the same time.

There were some really big animals, as well as youngsters with mothers or whatever and they put on a hell of a show for a good hour or so. Some were jumping completely clear of the water, just like a Seaworld type display.

I'm pretty sure they were dolphins though, rather than porpoise, as they had long noses and their dorsal fins were pretty big as well. I could be wrong but having checked to see what porpoises look like, I reckon these were dolphins
[video=youtube;WdIE15b_Ngc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdIE15b_Ngc&feature=c4-overview&list=UURddL3mkjOvJ3tAtVHpW-XQ[/video]





Can anyone confirm what they are?

cheers

Steve

 

[rancid badger]

This shorter clip shows the profile quite nicely if you pause at 0:03
[video=youtube;DpFEKHYM2eA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpFEKHYM2eA&list=U URddL3mkjOvJ3tAtVHpW-XQ[/video]

 

[Shewie]

White-Beaked dolphin I think Steve

 

[rancid badger]

Cheers Rich, there was a "local", telling anyone who would listen, that they were porpoise(s?) but I said I was pretty sure they weren't

First time I've seen dolphins outside of captivity and it was more or less on the doorstep

Steve

 

[Shewie]

You might want to check but that's my guess, we saw a few on a boat trip round the Summer Isles a few months ago and your looks very similar.

 

[santaman2000]

There's also a fish called "dolphin." It's extremely delicious.



This one's faded. They're brightly colored when first pulled from the water.

 

[rancid badger]

I've since checked my other photo's and videos and I'm pretty certain they are indeed, white beaked dolphins.

I was fairly certain they weren't porpoises, just looking at the fins but I'd also spotted the longer noses on the ones that were only a few yards off the pier when they first showed up.

I'm guessing that the two locals I spoke to, assumed they were not dolphins because they weren't light grey (like "flipper")

 

[Kong]

I fish the Bristol Channel sometimes and see porpoises. These aren't porpoises. more like bottlenose dolphins.