Rare dolphin sighting off Vancouver Island has researchers intrigued

Rare long-beaked common dolphin spotted off Vancouver Island. (Marine Education and Research Society)

A long-beaked common dolphin, a species rarely documented in B.C., has been spotted off Vancouver Island, with researchers using photos and videos from members of the public to track the same animal across hundreds of kilometres of coastline.

What began as a diver’s question quickly turned into a scientific puzzle.

After receiving a video from Esperanza Inlet on northwest Vancouver Island, researchers with the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS) were asked whether the animal was a Pacific white-sided dolphin, one of the species most commonly seen along the B.C. coast.

“It was random,” MERS researcher Jackie Hildering told CTV News.

“We knew right away it wasn’t a Pacific white-sided dolphin. It was a long-beaked common dolphin.”

That discovery prompted researchers to alert colleagues and the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network.

Then more reports started coming in.

A sighting near Malcolm Island was followed by photographs taken in Knight Inlet. By comparing the distinctive nicks on the dolphin’s dorsal fin, researchers confirmed the sightings involved the same juvenile animal.

Then came another surprise.

After MERS shared news of the discovery, people began searching through old photos and videos, realizing they may have also photographed the uncommon species in recent years.

“It’s the power of citizen science,” Hildering said.

“People suddenly realized what they’d seen wasn’t an ordinary sighting.”

The dolphin first drew attention in Esperanza Inlet, but researchers now know the same animal later travelled to waters off northeast Vancouver Island.

Long-beaked common dolphins may have “common” in their name, but they are among the rarest dolphins documented in B.C. waters.

Their normal range extends much farther south along the Pacific coast, making British Columbia the northern edge of their known range in the eastern North Pacific. While there have been previous confirmed sightings, they remain exceptionally uncommon.

This year’s appearance also coincides with an El Niño, when warmer ocean conditions can shift marine life farther north.

While that may help explain why the dolphin ventured into B.C. waters, Hildering says it’s important not to assume every unusual marine sighting is evidence of climate change.

“El Niño is a natural phenomenon,” she said. “These dolphins have been recorded here historically during warmer water years.”

Instead, she says the sighting offers scientists an opportunity to better understand a species that remains largely a mystery in B.C.

Unlike sea turtles that sometimes drift north and become cold-stunned, long-beaked common dolphins can follow their prey into warmer currents and are not necessarily in danger simply because they’ve ventured into Canadian waters.

For Hildering, the story is about more than one unusual dolphin.

It highlights how much remains unknown about B.C.’s marine environment, and how members of the public can make meaningful contributions to science simply by paying attention.

“Our coastline and our ocean are so vast,” she said. “There is still so much we don’t know, even about mammals that breathe the same air we do.”

“Knowing what’s normal means you’ll notice something extraordinary,” Hildering said. “Those observations can become incredibly valuable for science and conservation.”