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Ask someone about the type of food that a dolphin eat, and you’ll probably get the same answer – fish! After all, fish abound in all the different waters that dolphins live in. However, these creatures are generally quite flexible in the food they consume and take advantage of what’s around them. Fish is often their favorite food, but they also eat seaweed, shellfish and others invertebrates, or even rocks. While this resourceful nature works well for many species, it also puts them at risk for consuming plastic and other waste that collects in the water. Read on to learn more about what dolphins eat.
How dolphins hunt prey
Most dolphins find their food source by echolocation. The clicking noises they make show them where to find fish. This mammals will chase and surround fish to feast on like a pod, just open their mouths to catch it. If the fish is too big to eat whole, they sometimes break the fish by hitting it on the surface of the water.
Baby dolphins mainly depend on their mother for milk. However, as the baby grows, they will consume up to 30 pounds of food per day and work within their family to catch prey. Rarely do you see a baby dolphin hunting for food alone.
Predators Eating Dolphins
Even with a carnivore’s diet, dolphins are not shielded from other predators in their environment. sharks pose a major threat in the ocean, although some species such as the Tiger, dim, bull, and great white sharks are the biggest enemies. However, sharks go after adults or calves orcas also hunt dolphins when the opportunity is there.
Food preferences between dolphin species
While fish is an obvious choice for dolphins, the specific diet of each dolphin species varies slightly. The dolphin is an opportunistic carnivore and their main diet will depend on what that particular species is closest to. Let’s take a look at some of the dolphin species and what foods they prefer in their habitat.
Deepwater Dolphins
Deep-water dolphins, also known as pelagic dolphins, include rough-toothed dolphin, Atlantic Ocean tumbler, and Risso’s dolphins. The climate of these waters gives them constant access to calamari and jellyfish, making them essential parts of the dolphin’s diet.
Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, which are usually found along the Florida shore, swim to great depths to eat fish like mullet and catfish. bottlenose dolphins. dark dolphins, found in deep waters in the Southern Hemisphere, prefer a more varied diet than the bottlenose dolphin. In addition to fishing, they also go looking shrimp, squid and anchovies in the ocean waters in which they live.
river dolphins
River dolphins have access to freshwater fish in large quantities that ocean dolphins do not. Primarily dolphins such as the Indus river dolphin and the Amazon River Dolphin tend to consume the fresh water shellfish and fish in their habitat. The first has a special love for gobies and carp in their diet.
Spinner Dolphins
Spinner dolphins prefer the warm waters of tropical and subtropical climates. They live in the Atlantic Ocean, Indonesian, and Pacific Oceans, giving them a lot of variety to choose from. Fish is a staple of their diet, preferring smaller fish that fill their stomachs quickly. Since they dive up to 300 meters below the surface, they also eat jellyfish, krill, shrimp and squid.
Orcas
The killer whale is part of the dolphin family and their sheer size requires an equally massive food intake. While they will eat fish like other members of the dolphin family, their food needs to be on a much larger scale to meet their calorie needs. Often the whale eats other marine mammals, including dolphins! Other mammals that may be on the menu for the killer whale include: seals, sea lions, and other whale species.
Larger dolphins are usually at the top of the food chain, making them apex predators without other species preying on it.
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