According to the Pacific Whale Watch Association A crew has spotted what seems to be short beaked common nose dolphins in the harbor of Port Angeles Washington. The Cascadia Research Collective in in Olympia are analyzing the photos, and if they are confirmed then this would be marked as the first sighting of this temperate water species in the Canadian Washington inland waters. The last time short beaked bottle nose dolphins were spotted off of Washington waters was last year, 46 miles southwest of Vancouver Island.

Port Angeles Whale Watch Company were insider the harbor. One of their passengers passenger, who is a California based naturalist recognized them as short beak’s distinctive criss-cross color pattern immediately.

“We get very excited of course whenever we have a rare sighting like this,” explains Michael Harris, Executive Director of PWWA, which represents 38 operators in Washington and British Columbia. “They’re beautiful animals and we’re thrilled to get a chance to observe and study them, but at the same time we know that if our oceans were healthier and this planet weren’t in the throes of a climate crisis we probably wouldn’t be seeing this species up here.”

Short-beaked common dolphins reach about eight feet and 450 pounds. They have a distinctive criss-cross color pattern with the back portion dark brown-gray and the front portion between the eye and dorsal fin yellowish-tan, and feed on a wide variety of small schooling fish, including sardines, anchovies and herring, as well as squid. They are believed to be among the fastest marine mammals on the planet, accelerating to speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.

“It is exciting to have a new species in our area,” explained John Calambokidis, Senior Research Biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research Collective. “But we’re also watchful that they are healthy.”