DEEP DIVE

Risso's dolphins are rare and little-known, but conservationists are trying to learn more about them off the Balearic Islands

- ALEXANDER SÁNCHEZ JONES

The sun hasn’t yet risen, but all 12 crew on board the Toftevaag are awake and giddy with anticipation. It’s summer 2022, and we’re in the midst of a three-month research season off the Balearic Islands for the Altinak Research Institute. We’re currently sailing within the Cabrera Archipelago National Park, just south of Mallorca, which in 2019 was extended to include almost 90,000ha of open sea. Cabrera Gran, the main island that we departed from, now lies more than 10 nautical miles to the west of our boat, but we are still well within the park’s boundaries. 

It isn’t long before we spot a small pod of bottlenose dolphins off our starboard side. They glide and glisten in the dark water just under the bow, almost within reach, staring back at us. Then in perfect synchrony, they veer downwards, quickly fading into the depths.

It’s always a privilege when these curious creatures join our voyage, but bottlenose dolphins are relatively coastal and aren’t our target species. It is a larger and more mysterious cousin of theirs that we seek, a little known denizen of deep waters far from shore. We are in search of Risso’s dolphin, a species that we’ve learned relatively little about since it was first described more than 200 years ago by the French-Italian naturalist whose name it carries: Antoine Risso.

The sun appears, bathing the Toftevaag in a soft golden light. Checking my navigation app, I can see from the contour lines that the water depth is increasing rapidly, from 200m to 800m, and deeper still. We are now crossing over the marine park’s most important feature: the Emile Baudot escarpment, which stretches for 300km all the way to mainland Spain.