by: Dagmar Fertl
This species was originally described in 1956 by Fraser based on a skeleton that a man by the name of Hose found on a beach. This explains part of its name. This species looks like a combination of the genus Lagenorhynchus and Delphinus, so Fraser used a combination of both names. The resulting word, Lagenodelphis is from the Greek word lagenos meaning "bottle" and delphis for "dolphin".
Fraser's dolphins are stocky-looking, have a very short beak, and very small flippers and flukes. Its most distinctive feature however, is a wide, prominent black band running from the face to the anus (although there have been sightings of some without it). There is also a flipper stripe starting at the middle of the lower jaw. The back is dark brownish gray, lower sides are cream-colored, and the belly is white or pink. The flippers, dorsal fin, and flukes are dark in color.
This species probably reaches lengths of as large as 2.7 m weighing over 210 kg.
This is primarily a tropical species. They are probably found all around the coasts of Africa, with the exception of the very northern parts. There are few reports of Fraser's dolpins in Africa waters though with only a single stranding in the Canary Islands and some records for the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa.
There is little known about this species of dolphin. Most sightings of Fraser's have been of groups of between 100 and 1000 individuals. They are often seen mixed with other species of toothed-whales especially melon-headed whales, Risso's dolphins, and spinner dolphins. When these dolphins surface, they are very splashy. Fraser's dolphins eat mid-water fishes, squid, and crustaceans. This species was known for 17 years from only a skeleton, but was "rediscovered" in the early 1970's when its external appearance was first described.
There are known catches in various fisheries, both direct and incidental around the world.
Insufficiently known.
Perrin, W.F., S. Leatherwood, and A. Collet. 1994. Fraser's dolphin Lagenodelphis hosei (Fraser, 1956). Pp 225-240 in Handbook of Marine Mammals, vol. 5: The First Book of Dolphins (S.H. Ridgway and R. Harrison, eds). Academic Press.
Jefferson, T.A. Leatherwood, S. and M.A. Webber. 1994. FAO Species Identification Guide, Marine Mammals of the World. FAO of the United Nations, Rome.
Jefferson, T.A., Curry, B.E., Leatherwood, S. and J.A. Powell. 1997. Dolphins and porpoises of West Africa: A review of records (Cetacea: Delphinidae, Phocoenidae). Mammalia, v61 i1 pp 87-108 (22).
Leatherwood, S. and R.R. Reeves. 1987. The Sierra Club Handbook of Whales and Dolphins. Sierra Club Books, San Fransisco.
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