What do Dolphins Eat

What do Dolphins Eat

Dolphins are small-toothed carnivore mammals that live in oceans or near the coastline. Some species of dolphin live in fresh water of streams and rivers.

As the dolphins live along coastal areas, they eat fish, squid, shrimps, octopus, crab, jellyfish and which is found on the coastal bottom. Their diet is depending on their species and their habitat. Bottlenose dolphins like to eat Moray fish, Salmon, mullet, catfish when it is spring and summer months. In winter, they eat herring and mackerel as the scarcity of salmon.

Dusk dolphins depend on shrimp, squid and variety of fish. The Orcas are the biggest member of the dolphin family, live in Northern British Columbia, Canada. They eat Salmon, sea lions, dolphins, seals, whale and sea turtles. Spinner dolphins depend on fish, jellyfish and krill for food.

Adult dolphins eat about 15-25 pounds of food on each day. They have cone-shaped teeth in their mouth but swallow the whole. Some dolphins such as the killer whale use their teeth to rip apart the flesh of their prey to kill it and make it easier to consume. The bottlenose dolphins use their teeth to grip their prey but swallow the food whole. When they swallow their food, don’t swallow the salt water with the food. The salt water is force out of their mouth when they swallow the food. They obtain the fresh water from their food such as fish, squid etc. which being composed of about 70% of water.

The dolphin has three chambered stomach, but few species have two chambers. When they swallow the food, it stores into the first chamber. In the second chamber, enzymes and hydrochloric acid are released to complete the digestion process. The third chamber retains the digested food and passes to the small intestine.

Each day an adult dolphin produces 4L of urine and about 1.4 kg of faces.

They catch the prey by using two smart techniques, which require a very coordinated teamwork.

Herding- The first method is called herding. A group of dolphins perform this technique to catch the fish. They surround a school of fish to pack them very tightly and few of the dolphins take turn passing through the concentration of the fish and feeding them one by one while the others keep the fish packed as much as possible.

Corralling- The second technique to catch the fish is called corralling. The pod of dolphin chases the school of fish and takes them to the shallow water, where they cannot escape. Now the dolphins surround the fish and easily catch them to eat.

In search of food, bottlenose dolphins slap the surface of the water with their lower bodies and create bubbles to catch fish that hide in grasslands in Australia and Florida. This is called “kerplunking”.

Dolphins emit sound waves to obtain food called eco-localization. The waves reflect on fish or pray and provide them with an idea of the shape, sizes and the exact location of the pray.

The researchers observed that few female dolphins carry the sponges in their beaks. The dolphins dig the sandy and rocky bottom to search for prey. To protect their beak or rostrum from spines of certain fish, sharp shells or rocks they carry the sponges that act as shield.

Dolphins have no sense of smell as they have no olfactory lobs. They have no taste buds so they have no sense of taste but prefer to different kinds of fish.