Australian snubfin dolphin
| Australian snubfin dolphin | |
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| Size compared to an average human | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Infraorder: | Cetacea |
| Family: | Delphinidae |
| Genus: | Orcaella |
| Species: | O. heinsohni |
| Binomial name | |
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Orcaella heinsohni Beasley, Robertson & Arnold, 2005 |
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| Known distribution in blue; suspected distribution in yellow. Question marks indicate areas where no snubnosed dolphins were recorded but might occur. |
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The Australian snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni) is a dolphin found off the northern coasts of Australia. It closely resembles the Irrawaddy dolphin (of the same genus, Orcaella) and was not described as a separate species until 2005. The Australian snubfin has three, while the Irrawaddy dolphin only has two colours on its skin. The skull and the fins also show minor differences between the two species.
The taxonomic specific name, heinsohni, was chosen in honor of George Heinsohn, an Australian biologist who worked at James Cook University, "for his pioneering work on northeast Australian , including the collection and initial analysis of Orcaella heinsohni specimens which form the basis for much of our knowledge of the new species".
New species of large mammals are quite rarely described nowadays, and those that are usually are from remote areas — such as the saola - or are otherwise rarely encountered, see for example Perrin's beaked whale, or the spade-toothed whale, which is only known from two complete specimens and a few bones cast ashore. In fact, the Australian snubfin was the first new dolphin species to be described in 56 years, but was followed, in 2011, by the discovery and description of the Burrunan dolphin (T. australis), also from the Australian continent. The Australian snubfin dolphin is unusual among recently described mammals in that a population is accessible for scientific study.
Nonetheless, the existence of snubfin dolphins in the waters of northern Australia had only become known in 1948, when a skull was found at Melville Bay (Gove Peninsula, Northern Territory). This individual apparently had been caught and eaten by aboriginals. However, the discovery remained unnoted until discussed by Johnson (1964), and soon thereafter a Dutch skipper had his observations of the then-unrecognized species published.
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