White-beaked dolphins sighted off Finnish island of Korppoo

Rare sea mammals first thought to be porpoises

print this

Two small sea mammals, first thought to be porpoises, were sighted on Friday morning in the sea in front of the Korpoström Archilelago Centre off the island of Korppoo in the southwest archipelago.
      Closer inspection revealed that the animals in question were, in fact, white-beaked dolphins - a species not seen in Finnish waters since 1935.
      The dolphins were first noticed on Friday by postman Johan Simberg while on his morning route. He reported the sighting to an official of Metsähallitus, a state enterprise that administers state-owned land and water areas.
      Soon after that, the dolphins were seen from a distance of about 20 metres by employees working at Korpoström, as well as Trygve Löfroth, the Metsähallitus employee responsible for nature conservation for Southwest Finland.
     
"Identification of the species is fairly certain, as Finland’s best dolphin experts have already seen these pictures, and they have been shown as far away as Germany", Löfroth said on Friday afternoon.
      The pair were seen first at about half past nine in the morning. They swam majestically past the jetty of the Archipelago Centre. The weather was appropriately sunny and the sea was completely calm.
      The dolphins allowed a Metsähallitus boat to get to within five metres of where they were.
      Löfroth says that the animals were first thought to have been porpoises, but their beaks were recognised as being too narrow, and their dorsal fins were larger than those of a porpoise. "The video picture especially showed their different type of beak and the white lower side", said Löfroth.
     
The dolphins spent most of the day in the area near Korpoström. The last sighting was on Friday afternoon, six hours after they were first seen.
      The official European Union porpoise spotter, Markku Lahtinen, says that he had spent the whole summer season watching for mammals of the whale family along the Finnish coast, without result.
      Lahtinen says that he had previously seen white-beaked dolphins in other countries. He says that the sighting in Korppoo is "possible, and very exciting."


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland to have two compulsory porpoise inspectors (16.12.2005)
  Help wanted - porpoise spotter (30.3.2004)

Links:
  Korpoström Archilelago Centre

Helsingin Sanomat