Bottlenose dolphins are more familiar from Southeast and Gulf Coast waters than New England, and Massachusetts’ thin, 26-record showing near Cape Cod National Seashore and Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge reflects a population that mostly stays farther south, only occasionally ranging this far north.
Records scatter across May, June, September, and December with no single dominant month, a pattern that fits infrequent, individual sightings rather than a predictable seasonal visitor. NatureServe ranks the species S2, imperiled, in Massachusetts, notably more precarious here than its secure global status, underscoring how marginal this part of its range really is.
Full species profile
