Bottlenose dolphins in the northern Adriatic Sea
The northern Adriatic Sea is one of the few Mediterranean areas with historical information on cetaceans. Two cetacean species have been consistently abundant there until the 1960s: the short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis and the common bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus (hereafter bottlenose dolphin).
Intentional killings and systematic dolphin extermination campaigns conducted for over a century caused significant dolphin mortality until the 1960s (possibly several thousands of animals).
Unsustainable killings are thought to have triggered the decline of short-beaked common dolphins. Habitat degradation and changes in prey availability in subsequent years probably prevented their recovery, and determined the disappearance of this species.
Bottlenose dolphins are also likely to have suffered from intentional killings in historical times, followed by ongoing habitat degradation and prey depletion caused by excessive fishing. Today, bottlenose dolphins remain the only cetaceans regularly observed in the northern Adriatic, but they survive at low densities compared to other Mediterranean areas.
Bottlenose dolphins photographed in the northern Adriatic Sea. Photo © Tethys Research Institute.
Cetacean Alliance investigators:
For more information, see:
Bearzi G., Fortuna C.M., Reeves R.R. (In press) Ecology and conservation of common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in the Mediterranean Sea. Mammal Review.
