California mammals

Striped Dolphin in California

Stenella coeruleoalba

Native to California SNR Unranked in California

Not listed as nonindigenous in California by USGS NAS; native to its California 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.

Striped Dolphin in California, by the numbers

Rare in California 206th most recorded of 241 mammals logged in California

39 occurrence records
12 with iNaturalist photos

When to look for the Striped Dolphin in California

Most sightings fall in December to April.

39 California occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly California records (table)
MonthRecords
January5
February6
March6
April4
May1
June3
July3
August0
September4
October1
November2
December4

Monthly striped dolphin occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in California.

Seasonality

Year-round in California, with recorded sightings peaking in December–April, with a smaller rise in September.

Occurrence map

Where Striped Dolphin has been recorded in California

39 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

39 California records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Hearst San Simeon State Park 1
Golden Gate National Recreation Area 1
Estero Bluffs State Park 1
Point Reyes National Seashore 1
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 1

Protected places with the most striped dolphin sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in California

CountyRecords
Santa Barbara County 6
San Diego County 5
San Luis Obispo County 4
Ventura County 3
Marin County 3
Mendocino County 2
Los Angeles County 2
San Mateo County 2
San Francisco County 1
Santa Cruz County 1
Monterey County 1
Sonoma County 1
Other localities 8

The complete county distribution, spread across 12 California counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

California’s combined state files contain 46 “Striped Dolphin” records: 12 from iNaturalist and 34 from GBIF. It ranks 207th among 243 mammals in this California record comparison, placing it in the lower third. That’s a ranking of submitted records, not a head count of animals.

The California files don’t contain a complete month-by-month series for this species. That gap limits any claim about seasonal timing, and it doesn’t show that the animal leaves California during part of the year.

The national summary doesn’t provide a California share that can be compared cleanly with this state total. It’s better to treat these records as evidence of documentation effort rather than a measure of the species’ wider range.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in California 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
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"