Stenella
Encyclopedia
Stenella is a genus
of aquatic mammals in Delphinidae, the family
informally known as the oceanic dolphins.
Currently five species are recognised in this genus:
The common name for species in this genus is the "spotted dolphins" or the "bridled dolphins". They are found in temperate and tropical seas all around the world. Individuals of several species begin their lives spotless and become steadily more covered in darker spots as they get older.
The genus name comes from the Greek
stenos meaning narrow. It was coined by John Gray
in 1866 when he intended it as a subgenus of Steno. Modern taxonomists recognise two genera.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of aquatic mammals in Delphinidae, the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
informally known as the oceanic dolphins.
Currently five species are recognised in this genus:
- Pantropical Spotted DolphinPantropical Spotted DolphinThe Pantropical Spotted Dolphin is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The species was beginning to come under threat due to the killing of millions of individuals in tuna purse seines...
, S. attenuata - Atlantic Spotted DolphinAtlantic Spotted DolphinThe Atlantic Spotted Dolphin is a dolphin found in the Gulf Stream of the North Atlantic Ocean. Older members of the species have a very distinctive spotted coloration all over their body.-Taxonomy:...
, S. frontalis - Spinner DolphinSpinner DolphinThe Spinner Dolphin is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. It is famous for its acrobatic displays in which they spin longitudinally along their axis as they leap through the air.-Taxonomy:...
, S. longirostris - Clymene DolphinClymene DolphinThe Clymene dolphin , in older texts known as the Short-snouted spinner dolphin, is a dolphin endemic to the Atlantic Ocean.- Taxonomy :...
, S. clymene - Striped DolphinStriped DolphinThe Striped Dolphin is an extensively studied dolphin that is found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans.-Taxonomy:...
, S. coeruleoalba
The common name for species in this genus is the "spotted dolphins" or the "bridled dolphins". They are found in temperate and tropical seas all around the world. Individuals of several species begin their lives spotless and become steadily more covered in darker spots as they get older.
The genus name comes from the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
stenos meaning narrow. It was coined by John Gray
John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray ....
in 1866 when he intended it as a subgenus of Steno. Modern taxonomists recognise two genera.