Dozens of dolphins are again frolicking in the deep blue waters of the Alkyonides Gulf in Loutraki.
As Dr Alexandros Frantzis stated to Loutraki Blog on behalf of the scientific team of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, the Corinthian dolphins are globally unique. It is noted that since 1995, the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute has been conducting research on the study of marine animals, which has recently led to amazing discoveries.
The four species found in the Gulf of Corinth
All four species of Mediterranean dolphins live in the Gulf of Corinth: bottlenose, striped, common, and Risso's.
The bottlenose dolphin is the dominant species. It is a purely pelagic species that has not been observed anywhere else in the world in an enclosed bay, as in the Gulf of Corinth.
Together with common and striped dolphins, they form a permanent mixed pod of dolphins. Such permanent symbiosis has never been observed anywhere else in the world.
Given the genetic distances between the three species, it is as if humans lived in a mixed society alongside chimpanzees and gorillas.
As Mr Frantzis notes, during a recent survey in 2023 to estimate the number of dolphins, new surprising observations were made:
- They saw the same striped dolphin again 26 years after its first sighting in 1997.
- They recorded a unique bottlenose dolphin with thumbs on both flippers,
- A female common dolphin had adopted or kidnapped a newborn bottlenose dolphin and was nursing it.
Watch the video:
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