Dolphin species, Gulf of Oman 21st October 2011 (1 Viewer)

[vernon]

It's a bit of a long shot I know but I just wonder if it is possible to identify this Dolphin species from its dorsal fin shape. I saw it from a boat, just off the coast of Muscat in October 2011. I have attached 2 sets of sequential frame grabs from the shaky video I filmed in the hope that they might be sufficient despite the poor image quality.
Many thanks to anyone who can advise

Vernon

 

[Andy Adcock]

Risso's?

 

[vernon]

I was thinking the dorsal fin was too tall/pointed for Risso’s?

 

[Farnboro John]

I was thinking that the animals aren't exactly side on and a tall Bottlenose fin can't be ruled out. The excessive pointyness tends to support that idea.

It's certainly not too tall for Risso's, though, Risso's has proportionately one of the tallest dorsals going.

John

 

[Mad4Birds]

I think the fin shape excludes Risso's in my experience. I have seen occasional Bottle Nose with a similar shape, particularly at certain angles but it needs to borne in mind that this is also in the possible range of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin. I'm not familiar with that species but the animal in the photo looks very dark which may exclude it, as its usually a lighter grey.
Also, without a size reference, the colour and fin shape also means considering Pan-tropical Spotted Dolphin.
Sorry! 😬