Saturday, December 21, 2024

How to tell if a fin above the water belongs to a shark or dolphin


A sharks dorsal fin will have a straighter trailing edge while the dolphin and porpoise have a very curved trailing edge dorsal fin.
You can also feel confident in being able to spot a shark fin by knowing the sharks tail fins are vertical and sometimes break the surface ever so slightly behind the dorsal fin. Dolphins, porpoises and whales tail fins are horizontal. Many shark species also have the second small dorsal fin close to the tail that may be seen protruding from the water. See descriptive drawing below.

Dorsal fin of dolphin

Dolphin dorsal fin

Shark dorsal fin

Shark dorsal fin


shark or dolphin

Shark or Dolphin fin?

Shark protection device

Shark protection device

Comments

3 Responses to “How to tell if a fin above the water belongs to a shark or dolphin”
  1. debi good says:

    i have some pictures of some (animals) whichever it is , sharks or dolphins that have been caught on camera in our line ups, here in huntington beach. everyone says that these are sharks can you clarify that for me

  2. Elisha says:

    My and my friend were going swimming and a little while after we went deeper.
    And we saw a black thing, we had no idea what it was, it was either a shark or a dolphin I’m not so sure and It had a straight ish fin ,But. It wasn’t a shark nor a dolphin

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  1. […] curve, sharks(that you would find in Florida) have a straight back dorsal,” the person wrote, including a link to a guide that shows the difference between shark and dolphin […]



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