Tucuxi Dolphin, Sotalia fluviatilis, Peruvian Amazon

Tucuxi, Photo ©Rodrigo Tapia, Far South Expeditions

Breaching just long enough to allow for a fleeting glimpse, a Tucuxi, Sotalia fluviatilis comes out for a breath in the Ucayali, a tributary of the Amazon River near Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve in Loreto, north-eastern Peru. Although it inhabits rivers, it is placed within Family Delphinidae, the ocean dolphins, like the Bottlenose, to which it bears a bit more than a remote resemblance. The only other Cetacean found in the Amazon, the Amazon River Dolphin, belongs in Family Iniidae, the “true” river dolphins.