Nose Dive

This is a leaping Long-beaked Common Dolphin at the split second its nose hit the water, off the coast of Baja. Although they are called "Common" this is much the rarer of the two Common Dolphins (Long-beaked and Short-beaked) and the one that has never been recorded in Europe. Long-beaked is found in warmer coastal waters in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. But Long-beaked Common Dolphin as a species has also taken a nosedive as genetic research has shown that these populations don't have a common ancestor but have independently evolved from different populations of Short-beaked Common Dolphins. So most authorities now lump all Common Dolphins as one species but with four subspecies. So some books call this Long-beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus capensis), others call it the Eastern North Pacific long-beaked Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis subspecies bairdii).

Done