Stenella is a genus of marine mammals in Delphinidae, the family informally known as the oceanic dolphins.[2][3][4]
Stenella Temporal range:
| |
---|---|
Striped dolphin | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Infraorder: | Cetacea |
Family: | Delphinidae |
Subfamily: | Delphininae |
Genus: | Stenella Gray, 1866 |
Type species | |
Steno attenuatus [1] Gray, 1846
| |
Species | |
S. attenuata |
Currently, five species are recognised in this genus:[3]
Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Pantropical spotted dolphin | S. attenuata | eastern Pacific Ocean | |
Atlantic spotted dolphin | S. frontalis | tropical areas of the Atlantic Ocean. I | |
Spinner dolphin | S. longirostris | Pacific Ocean | |
Clymene dolphin | S. clymene | Atlantic Ocean. | |
Striped dolphin | S. coeruleoalba | North and South Atlantic Oceans, including the Mediterranean |
S. rayi was a species of this genus found in North Carolina, in the early Pliocene.[5]
The common name for species in this genus is the "spotted dolphins" or the "bridled dolphins".[2][3] They are found in temperate and tropical seas all around the world.[2][3] Individuals of several species begin their lives spotless and become steadily more covered in darker spots as they get older.[2][3]
The genus name comes from the Greek stenos meaning narrow.[2][3] It was coined by John Gray in 1866 when he intended it as a subgenus of Steno.[2] Modern taxonomists recognise two genera.[2][3]
The clymene dolphin (S. clymene) is the only confirmed case of hybrid speciation in marine mammals, descending from the spinner dolphin (S. longirostris) and the striped dolphin (S. coeruleoalba).[6]
Stenella dolphins tend to be more active during nighttime and spend their daytime resting. Although these dolphins are supposed to spend 60% of their daytime resting, they happen to be exposed to human activities for 80% of their day. These patterns of sleep deprivation can have negative impact on their resting habit and leads to decline in their population size.[7]