A new subspecies of bottlenose dolphin has been discovered in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. This is reported by the University of Miami.

Aphalins are the most common species of dolphin, which, in addition to the aphalins themselves, includes the Indian and Australian species.

Costa and others at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that the new subspecies, which they named the eastern tropical Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus nuuanu), is smaller than members of other species. According to scientists, these dolphins prefer deep coastal waters between southern California and the Galapagos Islands. The body differences are probably due to different water temperatures, salinity and oxygen content.

To come to these conclusions, biologists measured the total body length and skull morphology of dolphins caught in the Pacific Ocean, as well as those preserved in American museums.