Dolphin Facts

The warm temperate water of Port Stephens makes an ideal home for the pods of dolphins that live in Port Stephens all year. The Coastal Bottlenose dolphin are smaller in size, and are frequently seen swimming in the shallow warm waters of Port Stephens from Nelson Bay, Karuah, Tea Gardens, Myall River, the Great Lakes and up to Tomaree & Yacaaba Headlands. The off shore oceanic dolphin are larger in size and more robust due to the colder and deeper water of the open ocean.

Dolphins create strong social networks within their pods; dolphins will often hunt for food such as fish, squid & crustaceans together early in the day or late in the afternoon. Dolphins will work together to surround a school of fish, taking turns to feed by dashing through the school.

The gestation period of bottlenose is approximately 12 months; during the birthing other dolphins will stay close to the mother to assist the delivery. The mother will begin nursing the calf within 6 hours of the birth, nursing the calf close to the water surface. Calves have been known to nurse for up to 18 months, or when they are then able to catch fish on their own.

Dolphins communicate by vocalisation and echolocation. Vocalisation is used by dolphin to communicate with other dolphins by making trill, grunts and squeaking sounds. Each dolphin has a distinctive whistle by which they communicate with other dolphins. Echolocation enables a dolphin to distinguish objects in the water by omitting a clicking sound that travels through the water, bounces off the object and returns to the dolphin as an echo.