Risso’s Dolphins

Risso’s dolphins are unique, medium-sized cetaceans known for their blunt, bulbous heads and heavily scarred appearance. Born a uniform gray, they accumulate distinctive white linear scars throughout their lives from social “raking” with one another’s teeth and battles with their primary prey, deep-sea squid. As they age, this extensive scarring can cause some individuals to appear almost entirely white. They are primarily deep-water dwellers, often found along continental shelf edges where they can dive to depths of over 1,000 feet. In the Santa Barbara Channel, they are frequently spotted in social pods ranging from a few individuals to several dozen, occasionally traveling alongside other species like bottlenose dolphins or gray whales.

• Larger than the common dolphin – known for their scratches across their body due to fighting with deep-sea squid which they eat.
• Found in the Santa Barbara and other parts of the California coast, they are also commonly found in the Mediterranean Sea, the UK (especially Scotland), and around New Zealand and Australia.

Words from the Photographer: Nothing beats a sunny day with no wind in Santa Barbara, when you are taking the boat out to the islands you never know what you’re going to see – seeing Risso’s is always a pleasure. This same trip we saw a bald eagle going about double the speed of the boat, incredible.