A common dolphin (Delphinus delphis, a rare species in the Adriatic) recently entered the port of Grignano, near Trieste, and lingered in the waters of the Marine Protected Area of Miramare.
The common dolphin, a young female, was observed by experts from Shoreline and the Marine Protected Area of Miramare, and she was photographed and filmed while interacting with the lines of some buoys. This behavior, quite frequent among solitary dolphins, may be indicative of a condition of social and sexual deprivation. The common dolphin is in fact, by nature, an extremely gregarious species, which spends its life in large groups (in other seas even hundreds or thousands of individuals) and is used to having frequent physical contact and continuous social and reproductive interactions with other group members.
In the past, common dolphins were abundant in the Adriatic but have almost completely disappeared due to targeted killings and extermination campaigns that lasted for about a century. The killings stopped from the 1960s onwards, but in those years overfishing and generalised environmental degradation began, which altered the conditions necessary for the survival of this species. Today, the rare sightings of common dolphins mostly concern small groups or single individuals such as the one observed in Grignano.
To ensure that this animal remains safe and does not habituate to humans, it is of foremost importance to avoid any physical contact with the dolphin, while also not encouraging any type of interaction and not providing any type of food.
This observation is part of the research and monitoring efforts of the Interreg Italy-Slovenia project SeaInsights, which among other things involves many of the cetacean experts working in the waters of Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Slovenia.
To learn more about the common dolphin in the Adriatic, and Adriatic cetaceans in general, see: Bearzi G, Bonizzoni S, Genov T, Notarbartolo di Sciara G. 2024. Whales and dolphins of the Adriatic Sea: present knowledge, threats and conservation. Acta Adriatica 65:75-121.
