Rare striped dolphins spotted in UAE’s Fujairah after two decades

An extremely rare sighting of striped dolphins has been reported in the UAE’s Fujairah city after 20 years. This is the second time that the striped dolphins were seen and recorded in the region by the Fujairah Whale Project, the first dedicated scientific study of whales and dolphins in the city.

UAE is renowned for its breathtaking skyline, amazing theme parks and gorgeous malls. But the country is also rich in wildlife. And the spotting of the striped dolphins in the region has brought happiness to the marine researchers there.The project’s official Instagram page shared a picture of dolphins and captioned, ‘It is unknown whether Striped Dolphins are genuinely rare in the region, or whether they simply spend all of their time far from shore where people rarely venture.’
A team of researchers confirmed five dolphin sightings in the region just four days back. It included Common Bottlenose Dolphins, Indo-Pacific Common Dolphins and Risso’s dolphins.

On 16 January, 2021, a local man had reported a sighting of nearly 200 dolphins in Port of Fujairah. He shared a video on his Instagram page where a group of dolphins were slowly swimming. Though identification of species is a bit difficult in the footage, the dorsal fin shape is suggestive of Indo-Pacific Common dolphins.