Hourglass Dolphin
Cephalorhynchus cruciger
- Class
- Mammal
- Rarity
- Rare
- Observations
- 100
- Most observed in
- 🇦🇷 Argentina
Description
The hourglass dolphin (Cephalorhynchus cruciger) is a small dolphin in the family Delphinidae that inhabits offshore Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters. It is commonly seen from ships crossing the Drake Passage but has a circumpolar distribution. The species was identified as a new species by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard in 1824 from a drawing made in the South Pacific in 1820. It is the only cetacean to have been widely accepted as a species solely on witness accounts.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Hourglass dolphin”.