The Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is a euryhaline oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers of South and Southeast Asia and the Bay of Bengal, including notable lagoon populations in Chilika Lake in India and Songkhla Lake in Thailand, and river populations in the Mekong, Ganges and Ayeyarwady. Adults reach about 2.3 meters at full maturity and weigh 90 to 200 kilograms, with slate blue to slate gray skin, a rounded head, a blunt snout without a pronounced beak, and a small triangular dorsal fin set well back on the body. It lives in brackish water, river mouths and estuaries, feeding on bony fish such as catfish and fish eggs, cephalopods including squid, octopus and cuttlefish, and crustaceans, and is classified as Endangered by the IUCN, with several subpopulations rated critically endangered due to gillnet entanglement and habitat degradation. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Classification
System (Realm) Relationship to People Living or Extinct Scientific Name Conservation Status Comparison
CITES Appendix Connections
Child Taxon Of
Orcaella, Taxa Source Irrawaddy dolphin (Wikidata)
In Biome
In Ecosystem
Source Irrawaddy dolphin (Wikipedia)
Source Irrawaddy dolphin (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014)
2. Irrawaddy dolphin (Wikipedia)
International efforts section
Some Irrawaddy dolphin populations are classified by the IUCN as critically endangered in Cambodia, Vietnam (Mekong River sub-population), Indonesia (Mahakam River sub-population, Borneo), Myanmar (Ayeyarwady/Irrawaddy River sub-population), the Philippines (Malampaya Sound sub-population), and Thailand (Songkhla Lake sub-population).
System/realm (stated plainly in the entity own recorded description)
The Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris) is a euryhaline oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers of South and Southeast Asia and the Bay of Bengal, including notable lagoon populations in Chilika Lake in India and Songkhla Lake in Thailand, and river populations in the Mekong, Ganges and Ayeyarwady.
Infobox: status2
CITES_A1
- In Biome: Marine, Wikipedia intro: "s until 2005. It has a slate blue to a slate gray color. Although found in much of the riverine and marine zones of South and Southeast Asia, the only concentra..."
In Ecosystem: Sundarbans, Distribution and habitat
Bangladesh: ~3,500 in coastal waters of the Bay of Bengal and 451 (VU) in the brackish Sundarbans mangrove forest India: 156 in the brackish-water Chilika Lake, Odisha, as of 2021.
In Ecosystem: Coral Triangle, Philippines
In 2007, the Coral Triangle Initiative, a new multilateral partnership to help safeguard the marine and coastal resources of the Coral Triangle, including the Irrawaddy dolphin subpopulation in Malampaya Sound, was launched.
View the Source3. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Orcaella brevirostris (Animal Diversity Web)
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of ZoologyConservation Status: CITES
CITES Appendix I
Economic Importance for Humans
Positive Impacts food food ecotourism ecotourism
View the Source 4. Irrawaddy dolphin (Wikidata)
Wikidata- Wikidata Q273331 (P225 taxon name)
Statements section, conservation status (P141)
IUCN Red List conservation status (Wikidata property P141): endangered.
- Child Taxon Of: Orcaella, Wikidata P171 (parent taxon) claim, rank=normal, target=Q134273 (Orcaella)
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