Over the first four days of the current survey effort, four species of marine mammals were detected, including one, the Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) which has only been recorded in the UAE twice before, both times in Fujairah by the Fujairah Whale Project team in April 2017.
No live sightings have been recorded anywhere else in the Arabian region for at least the past 20 years. It is unknown whether Striped Dolphins are genuinely rare in the region, or whether they simply spend all of their time far from shore where people rarely venture.
The other three species encountered were the Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the Risso’s Dolphin (Grampus griseus), a deep-diving specialist, and the Indo-Pacific Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis tropicalis). All three are considered to be breeding residents of Fujairah, judging by the presence of juveniles and calves within the pods.