School of common dolphins sighted near Port Angeles

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — A school of short-beaked common dolphins were sighted and photographed near Port Angeles Saturday.

According to Pacific Whale Watch Association officials, the sighting may have been the first for the species in the Salish Sea.

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From the PWWA release:

"Short beaked common dolphins are tropical or temperate animals and generally do not journey north of California. Last September, two small schools of short-beaked common dolphins were confirmed by researchers about 46 miles off southwestern Vancouver Island near the continental shelf. ... Short-beaked common dolphins reach about eight feet and 450 pounds. They have a distinctive criss-cross color pattern with the back portion dark brown-gray and the front portion between the eye and dorsal fin yellowish-tan, and feed on a wide variety of small schooling fish, including sardines, anchovies and herring, as well as squid.  They are believed to be among the fastest marine mammals on the planet, accelerating to speeds of up to 40 miles per hour."

The dolphins in the Port Angeles sighting were photographed by naturalist Lee Leddy, Port Angeles Whale Watch Company.

"It's exciting to have a new species in our area," John Calambokidis with the Cascadia Research Collective wrote in the PWWA release. "But we're also watchful that they are healthy."

Cox Media Group