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Irrawaddy Dolphin Research Paper

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Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) were first mentioned in literature of Owen (1866). It was described that the specimen was found in 1852 at the mouth of the Vishakhapatnam (previous known as Vizagapatam) river along the east coast of India (Stacey & Leatherwood, 1997). Literally, based on the Latin word, the meaning of brevirostris is short-beaked. However, they are locally known by numerous different names. For example in Malaysia, they are called as Lumba-lumba; in Indonesia they are known as Ikan Pesut or Pesut Mahakam; in Laos, they are known as Pa Kha; in Thailand they are known as Hooa Bath; and in Myanmar they are known as Labai (Smith, 2009).
1.1.2 Taxonomy and morphology
Based on the genetic and the morphological study of …show more content…

They have no beak and the mouthline is straight. It is also forming distinct neck creases and notches behind the head. Usually, the position of the U-shaped blow-hole is reversed in most dolphin species and it is exposed to the front. It may looks like finless porpoises, but Irrawaddy dolphins have a dorsal fin (Jefferson et al., 1993). The fin is located on posterior half of the back. The shape of the dorsal fin is small and triangular with blunt tip (Stacey & Arnolds, 1999). Their flippers are broad and paddle-like shape. The tips of the flippers are also blunt. The size of the flippers is about 16% of body …show more content…

(2002), the mature Irrawaddy dolphins are able to grow up to 173m to 275m length and the average length are about 2.1m-2.3m. The males are commonly 15% longer compared to female. The range of the weight of mature Irrawaddy dolphins is about 115-130kg. The size and the weight range of the new-born are 1m length and 10 to 12 kg relatively (Jefferson et al, 2008).
According to the current study, the genus is divided into two species which are Orcaella brevirostris (Irrawaddy dolphins) and Orcaella heinsohni (Australian Snubfin dolphins) (Jefferson et al., 2008). Orcaella brevirostris and Orcaella heinsohni were differentiated according to their external features, habitat preference and genetic between the dolphins occurring in 5 fresh water systems and near shore water of Southeast Asia, the Bay of Bengal, east coast of India to Vishakhapatnam, coastal water of northern Australia and Southern Papua New Guinea (Beasley et al. 2005; Smith,

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