The Clymene dolphin is a small dolphin of tropical and subtropical offshore waters in the Atlantic. It is known for leaping and spinning as it falls back into the water.
Its dorsal fin curves backward at the tip, its lips look black, and its body has dark gray, light gray and white areas.
The Clymene dolphin is a small dolphin of tropical and subtropical offshore Atlantic waters. It travels in groups and may leap while spinning. Researchers compared three Stenella species.
The Clymene dolphin’s evolutionary history does not follow a simple family tree. In comparisons of three Stenella species, its mitochondrial DNA grouped more closely with the striped dolphin, while nuclear DNA was closer to the spinner dolphin. Across the three species, 72 cytochrome-b sequences formed 61 haplotypes, none shared among species.
Some measurements of the Clymene dolphin also fell outside the ranges of both proposed parent species. Combining the genetic and morphological evidence, the authors supported a hybrid origin involving an ancestral female striped dolphin and male spinner dolphin. The Clymene dolphin is now genetically differentiated from both proposed parental species, although some backcrossing may still occur.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.