For the first time since 2013, dolphins have been spotted offshore of Rosh Hanikra on Israel's northernmost coast.
On Monday morning, Manor Guri of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority was patrolling the waters of the Rosh Hanikra Sea Reserve when he spotted two dolphins.
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"We were surprised at the sight of two dolphins during our marine patrol today. It made us very happy to encounter and follow animals in the Mediterranean Sea," Guri said.
Video: Manor Guri, Israel Nature and Parks Authority
The bottlenose dolphin is the most common marine mammal in Israel's coastal waters. The average size of a school or pod of these animals, which are classed as cetaceans, like whales and porpoises, numbers five members, usually nursing mothers and calves, or young dolphins of both sexes. Adult male dolphins tend to swim on their own or in pairs, and sometimes join pods on a temporary basis.
These dolphins live above the coastal shelf and sometimes venture into deep water. The total dolphin population off Israel's Mediterranean coast is estimated at 300-400.
The subspecies of dolphins that lives in the Mediterranean is considered an endangered one. The biggest risk to dolphins in this region is the danger of becoming trapped in fishing nets. Other dangers to the dolphin population include pollution, swallowing trash, and ecological damage to their food chain.
In 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared Israel's Mediterranean coastal shelf an Important Marine Mammal Area after dolphins were sighted in the coastal waters over a period of years.
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