The Atlantic spotted dolphin is very long, with a size of about 7 ½ feet when fully mature. They can weigh from 240 to 360 with the males being much larger than the females. They develop unique spots all over their bodies as they get older. Young ones don’t have any spots and those that are mature may only have a handful. It is for this reason that the Atlantic spotted dolphin is often misidentified.
The top of their bodies are a dark gray or a dark black. Underneath it is a white or cream color. On the dark part of their bodies they will have white spots and on the whitish areas they will develop dark colored spots.
Distribution
The Atlantic spotted dolphin is only found in the ocean. They are known to live in a variety of locations including the oceans around the United States, Africa, Europe, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico. They have significantly increased in numbers in the Bahamas. There are now hundreds of them when only a couple of decades there were less than 100 there. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 Atlantic spotted dolphins out there.
Some of them that live along the Gulf of Mexico do migrate annually. Others tend to move long distances each day but not out of a need to follow a migration pattern.
(source:google/http://www.dolphins-world.com/)
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