Spotted dolphin refers to either one of two closely related dolphin species, being:
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Atlantic spotted dolphin
The Atlantic spotted dolphin (''Stenella frontalis'') is a dolphin found in warm temperate and tropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Older members of the species have a very distinctive spotted coloration all over their bodies.
Taxonomy
The Atl ...
, ''Stenella frontalis''
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Pantropical spotted dolphin
The pantropical spotted dolphin (''Stenella attenuata'') is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The species was beginning to come under threat due to the killing of millions of individuals in tuna Seine f ...
, ''Stenella attenuata''
While the pantropical spotted dolphin can be found around the world's oceans where a
tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...
or
subtropical
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones immediately to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Ge ...
climate exists, the Atlantic spotted dolphin can only be found in the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
.
{{Animal common name
Oceanic dolphins