DOLPHINS OF A DIFFERENT COLOUR 2 Part 1 is here. A small addition to the ‘Dolphins of a different colour‘ series. This time a pair of species that mirror each other across the hemispheres. Watercolour on hot-pressed paper, 14.8 x 21 cm.
• the ‘northern’ southern right whale dolphin • Lissodelphis peronii - Both right whale dolphins posses a most striking black-and-white colouration: but whereas the northern right whale dolphin goes in for mostly black and some white, the southern is mostly white with some black. At least usually. There exist many sightings of oddities: all and partial white individuals, white spots, greys and dappled grey instead of black. Sadly none seem to have been recorded in photographs - none except these all black animals. In New Zealand a group was spotted with no less than four odd dolphin, including one mother-calf pair. Like the dusky dolphin of before these dolphin are melanistic: an exces of melanin is produced, obscuring the normal colouration pattern. Unfortunately due to the poor sighting quality it is unknown whether these dolphins are truly yet black, or more of a deep ebony like the dusky dolphin.
• the ‘southern’ northern right whale dolphin • Lissodelphis borealis - Northern right whale dolphins are a bit more conservative in their strangeness. There is only one anomalous colouration pattern, seen with some regularity all across the species’ range, which is more or less the same in all individuals. Dubbed ‘swirled’, these animals appear to possess some form of leucism whereby the white markings are extended beyond their normal reach. The face and throat in particular are substantially stained, the belly marking reaches higher up the flanks and the pectoral fins are often more light than dark. On some individuals, faint outlines of the regular colouration can still be seen, which I have illustrated here.
