Mirissa Marine Life: What You Will Actually See

Spinner Dolphin Common

Stenella longirostris

A small, slender dolphin that leaps clear of the sea and spins like a top in mid-air.

Where: Bow riding on the run out to the whale grounds. Best: November to April. Often the first thing you see, and frequently in hundreds.

Blue Whale Regular Endangered

Balaenoptera musculus

The largest animal that has ever lived, and off Sri Lanka a population that mostly does not migrate, which is why it can be seen almost year round.

Where: The shelf edge a few kilometres offshore. Best: Nov-Apr, leaving port at first light. Deep water is a short boat ride from the beach, and the fleet is large in peak season.

Bryde's Whale Regular

Balaenoptera edeni

A warm-water baleen whale that lunges up through bait balls with its mouth wide open.

Where: Offshore, often in the same water as the blue whales. Best: November to April. The whale most often mistaken for a blue whale here. Three dorsal ridges on the head is the tell.

Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin Regular Near Threatened

Tursiops aduncus

The classic bottlenose of warm coasts, sociable, clever and quick to ride a bow wave.

Where: Offshore water on the whale watching route. Best: November to April.

Pantropical Spotted Dolphin Occasional

Stenella attenuata

Calves are born unspotted and acquire their speckling through life, so you can read a dolphin's age off its skin.

Where: Deeper water offshore. Best: November to April.

Risso's Dolphin Occasional

Grampus griseus

Old males are almost white, scarred head to tail by the teeth of other Risso's and the beaks of the squid they eat.

Where: Deep water beyond the shelf edge. Best: November to April. Older animals are so heavily scarred they look almost white.

Short-finned Pilot Whale Occasional

Globicephala macrorhynchus

Females go through menopause and live decades beyond breeding, one of only a handful of species on earth that do.

Where: Deep water offshore, usually in tight social groups. Best: November to April.

False Killer Whale Rare Near Threatened

Pseudorca crassidens

Has been recorded offering captured fish to divers and to other dolphins, apparently as a gift.

Where: Deep water offshore. Best: November to April.

Sperm Whale Rare Vulnerable

Physeter macrocephalus

The deepest diving mammal on earth, hunting squid two kilometres down, and occasionally gathering off Sri Lanka in pods of hundreds.

Where: Deep water beyond the shelf edge. Best: Nov-Apr. Secondary to blue whale here but a genuine possibility.

Killer Whale Very rare

Orcinus orca

The ocean's top predator, and off Sri Lanka they are known to hunt other whales, which is a thing very few people ever witness.

Where: Deep water off the shelf edge, occasionally alongside the blue whale boats. Best: December to April. An exceptional sighting even for the skippers who work this water daily.

Omura's Whale Very rare

Balaenoptera omurai

Only described as a species in 2003, and not seen alive and confirmed in the wild until 2015.

Where: Offshore water. Best: November to April. Only confirmed as a living species this century.

Saltwater Crocodile Regular

Crocodylus porosus

The largest living reptile and the ocean going giant of crocodiles, now virtually gone from Thai waters.

Where: The Nilwala River at Matara, upstream from the mouth, by boat. Best: December to April. Fifty to sixty animals in the surveyed reach, with a full range of age classes, so it is genuinely breeding.

Olive Ridley Turtle Occasional Vulnerable

Lepidochelys olivacea

The smallest and most numerous sea turtle, famous elsewhere for mass nestings of thousands at once.

Where: Offshore water on the whale watching route. Best: November to March. Often seen at the surface between whale sightings.

Whale Shark Rare Endangered

Rhincodon typus

The biggest fish in the ocean, a spotted, bus sized filter feeder and the undisputed holy grail of tropical diving.

Where: Blue water offshore. Best: November to April.