Bottlenose Dolphin
By: Hastings Witt

Tursiops truncatus

    The bottlenose dolphin or Tursiops truncatus live in tropical waters, they can migrate into bays, estuaries, or river mouths. The domain is eukaryote, the kingdom is animalia. The phylum is chordata, and the class is mammalia. The order is cetacea, and the family is delphinidae. Finally the genus is Tursiops and the species is truncatus. This organism has bilateral symmetry, which means that this organism can be divided into two parts and the sides are mirror images of each other. This organism has a greyish bluish coloring and and white in some areas. It has a shark like body shape. Some adaptations of the bottlenose dolphin are its sharp rostrum, this is good for protecting itself, and also hunting. This adaptation is structural because the animal was born with a rostrum. Another adaptation is its ability to hold its breath for 12-15 minutes. This is an behavioral adaptation because it is an action done by the animal. One last adaptation is that the dolphin has blubber that keeps it warm and protects its vital organs, this is structural. A cool fact about dolphins is that there are 5 different species of dolphins that live in rivers. Some of the bottlenose dolphin’s predators are bull sharks and killer whales. Some of its prey are fish, squid, and crustaceans. This organism is an heterotroph, which means that it eats producers and consumers. They are also endothermic which means they are warm blooded.

'Bottlenose Dolphin'

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/bottlenose-dolphin/

6 Nov. 2015.