Short-Beaked Common Dolphin Skull Replica

Description

Short-Beaked Common Dolphin Skull Replica measures 15.4 inches. Short-Beaked common dolphin skull replica is museum-quality polyurethane resin cast from California Academy of Sciences specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). 1:1 scale. Made in USA.

Short-Beaked common dolphin or Delphinus delphis is a medium sized dolphin, smaller than the more popular bottlenose dolphin. North Atlantic coastal and adjacent waters.

Adults vary in length from five to eight feet and range in mass from 220.26 to 299 pounds. Males are generally longer and heavier.

Short-Beaked common dolphins back is dark and the belly is white, while on each side is an hourglass pattern colored light grey, yellow or gold in front and dirty grey in back. It has a long, thin rostrum with 50 to 60 small, sharp, interlocking teeth on each side of each jaw.

Short-Beaked common dolphin can live in aggregations of hundreds or even thousands of dolphins.

They sometimes associate with other dolphin species, such as pilot whales. It is a fast swimmer (over 60 km/h), breaching behavior and aerial acrobatics are common with this species.

Short-Beaked common dolphins are very social animals and engage in most necessary activities such as traveling, eating, and breathing together.

When some individuals are sick, others in the group assist them by using their fins to help keep them afloat so they survive.

Short-Beaked common dolphin has a varied diet consisting of many species of fish and squid that live less than 660 ft. deep.

Short-Beaked common dolphin has been known to eat small fish, such as herring, pilchard, anchovies, hake, sardines, bonito, and sauries, as well as squid and octopus.

The diet of short-beaked common dolphin near the English Channel consists mostly of lanternfish, Atlantic mackerel, sprats, and squids.

In the Black Sea, their diet contains sprats, anchovies, and pipefish. In the Mid-Atlantic region near the Northeastern United States, their diet contains Atlantic mackerel. Delphinus delphis eat anywhere from 18 to 20 pounds a day.

Scientific Classification:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Artiodactyla
• Infraorder: Cetacea
• Family: Delphinidae
• Genus: Delphinus
• Species: D. delphis
• Binomial name: Delphinus delphis Linnaeus, 1758
• Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1), CITES Appendix II

For a comprehensive look at the delphinus genus, view the long-beaked common dolphin to analyze the significantly elongated mandibular features typical of this coastal-dwelling specimen.

For a complete perspective on local marine species, pair this specimen with the common harbour porpoise skull to observe the blunt-snouted cranial structure of its smaller coastal neighbor.