Behavior
This dolphin species is believed to be very migrational. It is believed they follow the fish in the winter time that are moving to warmer waters. The Commerson’s Dolphin is very active and they swim a great deal of the time. They are often frequently seen leaping from the water. They can do a variety of acrobatics including spins, twists, and they will bow ride behind boats in the water at fast speeds.
What is very interesting is that they have even been spotted swimming upside down. It is possible that they do so in order to survey their prey possibilities in given surroundings. Since they are rarely able to be observed much other than when they surface, there isn’t much well known about their behaviors.
Feeding
Even though most of the feeding efforts are collaborative, from time to time they have been seen feeding on their own. They use various types of herding methods as a team to get schools of fish to ball up and then they can dive in and consume them. These feeding efforts usually involve smaller groups of about 15 members. Since they can swim so quickly, they are able to get food and make it look virtually effortless.
Their diet consists of small fish, shrimp, octopus, squid, marine worms, and from time to time algae. They have one of the most diverse diets of all species of dolphins. What they will consume depends on their environment, the time of year, and the amount of food available compared to the number of Commerson’s Dolphins. They are opportunistic so they will feed on what they can find in order to survive.
They are known to get food from the open water surfaces as well as from the bottom of the sea floor. No species of dolphin chews their food, instead they swallow it whole so what they get has to be small enough to do so. They will consume about 10% of their body weight daily. This is about twice as much food as most species of dolphins consume when compared to their body weight.
(source:google/http://www.dolphins-world.com/)
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