New Jersey mammals

Common Bottlenose Dolphin in New Jersey

Tursiops truncatus

Native to New Jersey S3B Vulnerable in New Jersey

Not listed as nonindigenous in New Jersey by USGS NAS; native to its New Jersey range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)Delfín mular (Tursiops truncatus), isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 86Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)Two wild bottlenose dolphins breaching in unison over gray coastal waterWild bottlenose dolphin surfacing head-on, beak and dorsal fin above the water
Photo: NASA · Public domainCommon Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0Delfín mular (Tursiops truncatus), isla de San Cristóbal, islas Galápagos, Ecuador, 2015-07-24, DD 86Photo: Jonathan Eisen · CC BY 4.0Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)Photo: steve b · CC0Two wild bottlenose dolphins breaching in unison over gray coastal waterPhoto: Rolf Lawrenz · CC BY 4.0Wild bottlenose dolphin surfacing head-on, beak and dorsal fin above the water

Common Bottlenose Dolphin in New Jersey, by the numbers

Common in New Jersey 17th most recorded of 94 mammals logged in New Jersey

256 occurrence records

Records from 2000–2026.

256 total records count every New Jersey occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 253; the monthly chart covers the 253 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Common Bottlenose Dolphin in New Jersey

Most sightings fall in June to August.

253 New Jersey occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly New Jersey records (table)
MonthRecords
January3
February30
March2
April6
May15
June48
July57
August55
September25
October4
November6
December2

Monthly common bottlenose dolphin occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in New Jersey, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in New Jersey, with recorded sightings peaking in June–August.

Occurrence map

Where Common Bottlenose Dolphin has been recorded in New Jersey

253 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

213 New Jersey records mapped

Where it's recorded in New Jersey

CountyRecords
Ocean County 53
Cape May County 47
Atlantic County 25
Monmouth County 17
Cumberland County 11
Burlington County 2
Other localities 101

The complete county distribution, spread across 6 New Jersey counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

New Jersey’s monthly series contains 17 common bottlenose dolphin records in the 2000–2026 window. November contributes five and August three, while January, July, and September have none. Those open-data records mark documented encounters, not the abundance of dolphins off New Jersey.

NatureServe assigns the species S3B (Vulnerable) in the state. Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, Island Beach State Park, and Sandy Hook are the three viewing leads listed here, but the thin monthly series cannot define either the full coastal range or a dependable peak season.

Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
Full species profile Common Bottlenose Dolphin Tursiops truncatus Size 2–4 m6.6–13.1 ft Weight 150–650 kg330.7–1433 lb Lifespan 60 yr View the full profile

More mammals in New Jersey in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap