Color:
dark grey or blue-grey, sometimes with a hint of purple.
The area around their mouths is often white or pinkish
white especially on the underside where the whiteness
covers the throat too
Diet:
variety of fish species, free-swimming octopi and
squid
Rough-toothed
dolphins get their name from the vertical ridges or
wrinkles found on their teeth. However, as these are
impossible to see, other features must be relied on
when identifying them. They can be mistaken for bottlenoses
but unlike other dolphins, rough-toothed dolphins do
not have prominent beaks with a crease between their
beak and forehead. Their long narrow beak blends smoothly
into the forehead and some people have described them
as looking like reptiles. Their skin is dark grey or
blue-grey, sometimes with a hint of purple. The area
around their mouths is often white or pinkish white
especially on the underside where the whiteness covers
the throat too. They have large eyes which are surrounded
by a dark patch of skin. Rough-toothed dolphins have
quite slim bodies, especially behind the dorsal fin
which has a wide base and curves backwards. Their flippers
are large and set quite far back on their body. The
flukes have pointed tips and a notch in the middle.
Rough-toothed dolphins often have spots or blotches
on their lower body and they are often scarred too.
They have between 38 and 52 teeth in the upper jaw and
between 38 and 56 in the lower jaw. Different populations
may look slightly different to each other, especially
the animals living in the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific
population.
