Black porpoise

Tursiops truncatus

Marine mammals
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–50 m
Water temperature11–29 °C
Best monthsJuly, August, and September
How commonCommon

Photo credit: (c) Laurent Bouveret, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

The common bottlenose dolphin or Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is one of three species of bottlenose dolphin in the genus Tursiops. While formerly known simply as the bottlenose dolphin, this term is now applied to the genus Tursiops as a whole. As considerable genetic variation has been described within this species, even between neighboring populations, many experts think additional species may be recognized and split out.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Common bottlenose dolphin”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 1,530 records
February: 1,705 records
March: 2,189 records
April: 2,313 records
May: 2,104 records
June: 2,063 records
July: 2,997 records
August: 3,564 records
September: 2,506 records
October: 1,680 records
November: 1,525 records
December: 1,651 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–50 m · Deepest record: 315 m

0–10 m: 78 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 32 records
50–60 m: 11 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–29 °C

10–12 °C: 4 records
12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 28 records
16–18 °C: 23 records
18–20 °C: 4 records
20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 16 records
24–26 °C: 29 records
26–28 °C: 11 records
28–30 °C: 5 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Black porpoise, Bottlenose dolphin, Bottlenose porpoise, Bottlenosed dolphin, Bottle-nosed dolphin, Common bottlenose dolphin, black porpoise, Black Porpoise, Black Sea Bottlenose Dolphin, bottle-nosed dolphin, bottlenosed dolphin, Bottle-nosed Dolphin, Bottlenosed Dolphin, Bottle-nosed Dophin, Common Bottle-nosed Dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin; Black Sea Bottlenose Dolphin (ponticus), Bottlenose Dolphin, Tuyiin, bottlenose porpoise, common bottlenose dolphin, Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Ponticus

Names in 6 more languages

German: GroRer Tummler, grosser Tümmler, Großer Tümmler, Grosse Tümmler, Grosstümmler, Großtümmler, hochcöpliger Tümmler, Tümmler
Spanish: bufeo, delfin de las islas, delfín mular, Delfín mular, delfin nariz de botella, delfin pico de botella, Delfín pico de botella | delfín negro, Delfín tonina, guamachin, mular, pez mular, tursio, tursion
French: dauphin à gros nez, dauphin nesarnak, Dauphin souffleur, grand dauphin, Grand Dauphin, Grand dauphin commun, Grand Dauphin, grand dauphin, souffleur, dauphin à gros nez, grand souffleur, gros dauphin gris, nesarnark, oudre, souffleur, tursion, tursiops, tursiops nesarnak
Indonesian: lumba-lumba hidung botol
Japanese: bando iruka, handa iruka, ハンドウイルカ
Korean: keun-dolgorae

Other scientific names: Delphinus (Tursio) cymodoce, Delphinus compressicauda, Delphinus erebennus, Delphinus metis</i> [No.1], Delphinus nesarnack, Delphinus nesarnak, Delphinus parvimanus, Delphinus troncatus, Delphinus truncatus, Delphinus tursio, Tursio cymodice, Tursio metis, Tursio truncatus, Tursiops gephyreus, Tursiops gilli, Tursiops gillii, Tursiops maugeanus, Tursiops nuuanu, Tursiops parvimanus, Tursiops subridens, Tursiops truncantus, Tursiops tursio

Similar species

Central American spinner
Stenella longirostris

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
70,868 open-data records from 1934 to 2025.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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