A dolphin of Indian and Pacific Ocean coastal waters. It feeds mainly on fish in shallow waters.
The back is dark gray or slate-colored and the underside is lighter. Belly spotting varies with age and location.
At Shark Bay in Western Australia, some Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins carry basket-shaped sea sponges on their snouts as they probe the seafloor and flush out camouflaged fish. The sponge also protects the snout from scraping against the seafloor.
A 2025 study modeled two sponge species on a computer and calculated how dolphin clicks and returning echoes travel through sponge tissue. With one sponge, the model showed large changes in sound frequency, duration, loudness and beam shape; with the other, the effects were smaller. The authors propose that dolphins adapt the way their brains process sound to handle the different distortions. They suggest this sensory challenge may help explain why the feeding technique takes years to learn and is passed mainly from mothers to offspring.
IUCN Red List · Near Threatened (NT) · Global species-level assessment (Tursiops aduncus)
The global IUCN Red List assessment classifies the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin as Near Threatened (NT). It was assessed in 2019, when its population trend was recorded as unknown. Listed threats include coastal development, shipping, fishing, recreation, disease and pollution. In South Africa’s 2025 regional assessment, the Natal subpopulation is Vulnerable (VU), the Agulhas subpopulation is Near Threatened (NT), and the regional population trend is declining.