Tall Fin is one of Port Phillip’s first common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), having been first been seen in 2006. He is dolphin #4 in our catalogue and has been seen on surveys every year since 2006. He is one of the resident males in our Port Phillip common dolphin community and loves the limelight, often outshining the other dolphins when we are trying to photograph them for ID purposes.

Tall Fin has a very slender and tall fin, with no obvious markings, which is unusual for a dolphin that must be approaching 20 years of age. If you look closely at the image here, you will see some scars on Tall Fin’s beak – which helps confirm our estimate of its age.

Whilst we aren’t directly able to track calves related to Tall Fin as we can with their mums, we have witnessed Tall Fin mating with various females in the bay on surveys so it is reasonable to suggest some of the calves born in the bay may be his. We have also seen him what we call “baby-sitting” calves where he will swim alongside young calves for extended periods of time.

Read an update on Tall Fin here.