Common dolphin is a true offshore species, and its handful of Maryland records near Assateague Island and the Blackwater and Eastern Neck refuge waters likely represent animals pushed unusually close to shore or into the bay mouth, rather than a resident coastal population like the bottlenose dolphin. NatureServe carries no ranked status for the species in Maryland, reflecting how irregular its inshore presence is.
Records cluster in January, with a smaller rise in May, a pattern too thin to read as a reliable seasonal calendar for a species this rarely logged in state waters.
Full species profile
