Spinner Dolphin

Photo: martinmoscovich · CC BY-NC

Pods of spinner dolphins rest in the calm waters of Bazaruto's northern lagoon during the day after deep offshore feeding at night, and individuals sometimes approach diving boats and descend to inspect divers hovering in the water column at North Point. Their spectacular aerial spinning behaviour — leaping and rotating up to seven times before re-entering the water — is thought to function in social communication and parasite removal, and it is most frequently observed in the early morning after the pod has rested and before they head offshore to feed. The Bazaruto population appears to use the archipelago's sheltered lagoon as a nursery, with mother-calf pairs regularly observed in the calmer waters to the south of North Point.