Marine Life
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Marine Life around rame head
dolphins
Its prominence and panoramic views make Rame Head is one of the top locations in the south west for cetacean sightings. Pods of dolphins are regularly observed, with the most frequent sightings being short beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The distinctive Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) is less commonly seen but is known to frequent the wider area.
The energetic common dolphin is one of the easiest cetaceans to spot, with its distinctive yellow and grey hourglass pattern along its sides. In UK coastal waters they may be sighted in groups containing hundreds of animals. Gregarious animals, common dolphins will often approach boats to bow-ride and leap alongside. Common dolphins feed on squid and fish and will work together to school prey into ‘bait balls’. Calves are born between April and September when the food chain is most abundant and females will lactate for approximately 10 months. Common dolphins may live for up to 25 years.
The larger bottlenose dolphins are typically a uniform dark grey with paler lower sides and belly. They are highly sociable and will often be found in groups of up to 10 animals in inshore waters. Bottlenose dolphins are given to acrobatic displays and will regularly jump out of the water. Unlike the common dolphin, bottlenose dolphins will enter estuaries and harbours and may even occasionally be found in freshwater. They show a particular liking for areas with strong tidal currents. They collaborate both in hunting the fish and squid on which they feed, and in defending the pod against predators and protecting the young. Echo location is used in hunting and sound is also used for social interaction.
The rarer Risso’s dolphin has a robust, stocky body characterised by a large dorsal fin and large, bulbous head. They mostly frequent deep offshore waters but have been spotted at Penlee Point. Young adult Risso’s dolphins are dark brown but as they age they accumulate distinctive white scarring that, in some adult males, can cover almost the entire body. The scarring is thought to originate predominantly from social interactions with other individuals of the same species, but hunting the squid and octopus which constitute a significant proportion of their diet may also lead to some scarring. The extensive scarring makes Risso’s dolphins particularly easy to identify, as scarring patterns are unique to individuals.
Human threats to dolphins include pollution, reduction in fish stocks due to over-fishing, accidental entanglement in fishing nets (bycatch), increased noise in the marine environment, and the impacts of tourism. Cornwall Wildlife Trust has been successfully piloting the use of ‘pingers’ that are attached to fishing nets and emit sound to repel dolphins.
Harbour porpoise
A small triangular dorsal fin breaking the surface close to shore on a calm day may belong to a harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) – a rotund animal with a small blunt head usually up to 1.5m long, although harbour porpoises from the south west are longer than those from other areas of the UK and could be a separate stock.
They have dark grey backs and lighter underbellies. They are usually found either in pods of 3-5 animals, or alone. Although Harbour porpoises are the most numerous cetacean found in UK waters, they are shy and may be difficult to spot. The loud “chuff” noise they make as they surface for air has led to their nickname “puffing pig”.
Whales
Whilst less frequently seen than dolphins and porpoises, it is also possible to spot whales from Rame Head. Minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) were sighted in July 2020 between the Rame Peninsula and the Eddystone Lighthouse, around 14km offshore from Rame Head (certainly visible on a clear day!). Minke whales, like their famous larger relative the blue whale, are baleen whales, which derive their name from the baleen structure in their mouths that they use to filter out krill and small fish from seawater. They reach a maximum length of just under 11m and weigh up to 10 tonnes.
There has even been an unconfirmed sighting of a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) from Rame Head in 1992, and later boat based sightings around the Eddystone lighthouse have confirmed that these whales do infrequently visit these waters. Humpback whales – measuring up to 16m and 30 tonnes - are famous for their spectacular acrobatic breaches, where up to 2/3 of their body length may become airborne as they leap from the water!
Fish
Basking sharks come to the waters around Cornwall during the spring and summer months. They feed by filtering up to 2000 m3 of seawater per hour to extract the zooplankton on which they subsist. They will sometimes feed close to shore in large schools of more than 100. Up to 12m long and weighing 7 tonnes, the basking shark is the world’s second largest fish after the whale shark, and has been sighted at Rame Head. A basking shark can live for up to 50 years.
Another remarkable fish often sighted from Rame Head is the oceanic sun fish (Mola mola), which has a bizarre, laterally flattened and rounded body that has sometimes been described as a fish head with a tail. The sun fish can reach a size of up to 1000 kg and feeds on small fish, larvae, crustaceans and jellyfish. The fish prefers waters over 12 °C and can sometimes be seen basking on its side in the sun at the surface, which may be a way for it to thermally recharge after dives to deeper, colder waters to feed.
Seals
While both the common and the grey seals are native to Britain, it is the grey seal that is most commonly seen in the waters around Cornwall. Grey seals are one of the few animals that can smell underwater and will sometimes greet each other by sniffing. They spend days at a time at sea feeding on fish. They rest by ‘bottling’ or ‘logging’ when they bob about with just their heads above the water. They will return to land to rest for longer periods and to give birth to fluffy white pups in the autumn. The pups stay on land until they have lost their white coats and trebled their body weight. As adults they can reach 2.6m in length and a weight of between 200 and 300 kg. Grey seals live for 30-40 years.
For more information on the marine life at Rame Head, please see: