There are numerous types of dolphins varying from color, size, and head shape. Dolphins are categorized into two groups. One is the marine dolphin and the other is a fresh water dolphin. As we get deeper into our topic, we will be describing each category and the different types of dolphins. Let us start with the marine dolphins. These are the ones which belong to the family of delphinidae. They are commonly found in several open seas and often found on rivers. Common dolphin is considered to be an example of a marine dolphin. They are known to be the fastest dolphins. They have an approximate length of 7 feet. Unlike any other type of dolphins, they have a black ring around their eye. They also have a long green, gray, and brown stripes on the side of their body. This type of dolphin has around fifty small and sharp teeth. Common dolphin is found in most deep oceans. They love to stay on warm and temperate oceans.

The next type of marine dolphin is the black and white dolphin. They are a member of the cephalorhynchus family. They are also called as the skunk dolphin. This is because of their color. This type of dolphin is the smallest among all. It has an approximate length of 4 feet. They have triangular fins, which make them different from others. They also have thirty pairs of teeth and have a short beak. Bottle nose dolphins are another type of marine dolphins. They are scientifically known as the Tursiops. Another name for this dolphin is the cowfish. They have an approximate length of ten to twelve feet, with a short beak around three inches. They have around twenty teeth from the upper and lower jaw. They love to eat shoal fish just like the weakfish. The female bottlenose dolphins will give birth to a single young eleven to twelve months after mating. During the delivery, the young will appear out from the birth canal with its tail first. After that the young will then rise up to the surface of the water to breath. This first breath is important for its survival.

The next category is the river or fresh water dolphin. One good example is the white flag dolphin. Lipotes vexillifer is their scientific name. They are also called as the Chinese river dolphins. They were named as the white flag dolphins because their dorsal fins resemble a flag when it hits the water surface. This is considered to be a strange dolphin commonly found in the lake Tung Ting which is a fresh water lake located around six hundred miles from the Yangtze River. Experts are still figuring out how these dolphins came across the lake. Unfortunately, they have no close relatives found after several studies.

Another type of fresh water dolphin is the Amazon dolphin. During the old times, it is commonly known as the Inia. They are also called as the Bouto up to these days. The native people greatly fear this type of dolphin because they believe that the Bouto has a will to attack an individual in the water. A great story behind this creature is that the native long time ago saw this dolphin from the water resembling a beautiful princess. Always remember that not all dolphins are friendly. Some of them are capable of killing a human being.

Dolphin watching can be done at the open seas, or at water parks where dolphin watching is staged. Water parks are suitable for those who are not much into sailing on waters because they get motion sickness. Although open sea is more in-touch with nature, dolphin shows in parks can give the same excitement as other dolphin watching activities. Just make sure that when you visit the water park, there are scheduled dolphin shows. There are instances wherein dolphin shows are not available all the time. In order to be safe and not to put your money and time to waste, verify beforehand if there is a scheduled dolphin show before buying tickets. Also, as being a proactive and responsible citizen, make it sure that the water park, especially the operators of the dolphin show, have the necessary accreditation from authorities. Dolphins are an endangered species worldwide; hence, it is the only responsible thing to do to check whether the dolphins used in the shows are not illegally captured. Furthermore, during the dolphin shows, listen to the briefings and talks of the one presenting the shows. They give good insights about dolphins and its behaviors. Most importantly, do not forget to bring your cameras. Of course, you want to document everything you have seen and experience in the dolphin shows; plus, an evidence that you are really there, enjoying the dolphin show.

For those who want to hit the seas and enjoy the adventure of sea motion and splashing of waves, open-sea dolphin watching suits you best. It involves, however, good planning and choosing the right travel/adventure company where you can book your trip. It is not advisable to go to dolphin watching without experts onboard. Travel/adventure companies that venture into dolphin watching have captains and experts onboard who can watch over those who are dolphin watching. They can also serve as lecturers, explaining to the guests about dolphins and how it lives in the water. Aside from choosing a reputable company for such outing, planning the dolphin watching beforehand is very important. It should be taken into consideration that dolphins are migratory species and are not always present in a particular area. There are seasons wherein a bunch of it are present in this open sea, while there are times that the dolphins are at the other side of the state. It depends actually on the season. Furthermore, an important factor in dolphin watching is the weather. It is not safe to go to dolphin watching if the weather is not good. No one wants to get stuck in the open sea with a storm or deadly waves around. Check the weather forecast before hitting the waters. If the vessel does not serve onboard meals, bring along with you food and drinks. There are no available restaurants at the open sea; so, it is safe to bring along food and drinks because no one wants to get hungry while on board. One will also not enjoy the dolphin watching with empty stomachs. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, a camera is a must-have in dolphin watching for documentary purposes.

Meanwhile, whether it is on water parks or open seas, dolphin watching should be observed with utmost care for the dolphins. No dolphins should be endangered just for the sake of enjoyment.

Dolphins help us by doing vital things in our ecosystem and in our environment. As predators, they consume squids and fishes therefore help maintain balance of population in our eco system. And to our environment health; for the dolphins are good natural indicators, so as to say that they are important to the environment. Unfortunately, these beautiful majestic creatures are now included as one of the endangered species. There are numerous factors that put their lives in danger or worse take their lives and the top reason for this catastrophe is our human activities. Three major activities we human caused that put the dolphins’ lives in danger are tuna fishing, human pollution and coral destruction. In tuna fishing, Dolphins as mammals breathe air through their lungs instead of gills, which means they need to resurface above water to breathe air. They can hold their breath underwater for 4-10 minutes at most and if they don’t they die. One cause of this is our human activity of fishing using fishing nets. The dolphins most likely get caught in the fishing net because they try to pursue tuna fishes which we humans catch. With this they get caught and then entangled in the net causing their death. The other cause of their death is Human Pollution; our human waists if consumed by dolphins may poison them or affects their senses resulting to confusion which make them easy prey for the other carnivore sea creatures especially the sharks. Lastly, we all know how important coral reefs to all water creatures. As we all know coral reefs are the natural habitat to a wide variety of fish providing them food, shelter and protection. Clearly, destruction to this natural habitat will lead to the destruction of the reef fishes hence affecting the food for the dolphins.

With this, it is sad to say that dolphins are at risk of dying everyday and if this continues on, then surely dolphins will become extinct. We as humans have to find ways to stop the diminishing of the dolphins. One way to do this is to provide information about how important the dolphins are to us. Let all people be aware of the role played by the dolphins in helping us in various ways as stated earlier. We as human beings have the obligation and the responsibility to save the dolphins because in saving them we are also saving ourselves.

As Poseidon was helped by Delphin and rewarded him to be as one of the stars of the constellation, so as we humans must reward the dolphins by saving and preserving their lives. With this, we give a helping hand.