Pod of dolphins spotted swimming off Portobello coast

Members of the public have taken to social media to report sightings of a pod of dolphins swimming in the Forth.

A pod of dolphins was spotted off the coast of Portobello today. Picture: Dougie Kemp @InfoTrainingmad/Twitter

At least three of the marine mammals, which are believed to be of the bottlenose variety, were spotted swimming in the waters off the coast of Portobello earlier today.

Twitter user Dougie Kemp shared some snaps on to his @InfoTrainingmad feed that he had taken of the relatively rare Porty visitors.

Bottlenose dolphins normally inhabit temperate and tropical waters though a small population of around 200 is known to call the North Sea home.

More than half of the North Sea’s bottlenose dolphin population can be found in the Moray Firth.

Picture: Dougie Kemp @InfoTrainingmad/Twitter

The animals typically measure around 2.5-3 metres in length and can weigh up to 275kg.

North Sea bottlenose dolphins face a number of modern threats. Among the more serious are pollution, collisions with vessels, sound disturbance from pleasure craft and accidental capture in fishing nets.

Dolphin species can be found in many major rivers and all of the planet’s oceans, including near the polar regions.

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