According to the Atlas of Living Australia, at least 34 species of whales and dolphins have been recorded off South Australia’s coast. All marine mammals are protected in South Australia under the National Parks & Wildlife Act 1972. Federal protection for cetacea exists under the EPBC Act 1999. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains international conservation listings for each species. As you can see below, many of these species are data deficient, meaning that their populations are not sufficiently known to be able to detect their growth or reduction.
Photo sightings of some of these species can be seen at this iNaturalist project.
| Genus | Species | Common name | Described | IUCN | AUS | SA |
| Balaenoptera | acutorostrata | Dwarf minke whale | 1804, Lacépède | Least concern | Rare | |
| Balaenoptera | bonaerensis | Antarctic minke whale | 1867, Burmeister | Data deficient | ||
| Balaenoptera | edeni | Bryde’s whale | 1878, Anderson | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Balaenoptera | musculus | Blue whale | 1758, Linnaeus | Endangered | Endangered | Endangered |
| Balaenoptera | musculus brevicauda | Pygmy blue whale | 1966, Ichihara | Data deficient | ||
| Balaenoptera | musculus intermedia | Blue whale | 1871, Burmeister | Critically endangered | ||
| Balaenoptera | omurai | Omura’s whale | 2003, Wada, Oishi & Yamada | Data deficient | ||
| Balaenoptera | physalus | Fin whale | 1758, Linnaeus | Endangered | Vulnerable | Vulnerable |
| Berardius | arnuxii | Arnoux’s beaked whale | 1851, Duvernoy | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Caperea | marginata | Pygmy right whale | 1846, J. E. Gray | Least concern | Rare | |
| Delphinus | delphis delphis | Short-beaked common dolphin | 1758, Linnaeus | Least concern | ||
| Eubalaena | australis | Southern right whale | 1822, Desmoulins | Least concern | Endangered | Vulnerable |
| Feresa | attenuata | Pygmy killer whale | 1874, J. E. Gray | Data deficient | ||
| Globicephala | macrorhynchus | Short-finned pilot whale | 1846, J. E. Gray | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Globicephala | melas | Long-finned pilot whale | 1809, Traill | Data deficient | ||
| Grampus | griseus | Risso’s dolphin | 1812, Cuvier | Least concern | Rare | |
| Hyperoodon | planifrons | Southern bottle-nosed whale | 1882, Flower | Least concern | Rare | |
| Kogia | breviceps | Pygmy sperm whale | 1838, Blainville | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Kogia | sima | Dwarf sperm whale | 1866, Owen | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Lagenorhynchus | obscurus | Dusky dolphin | 1828, J. E. Gray | Data deficient | ||
| Lissodelphis | peronii | Southern right whale dolphin | 1804, Lacépède | Data deficient | ||
| Megaptera | novaeangliae | Humpback whale | 1781, Borowski | Least concern | Vulnerable | Vulnerable |
| Mesoplodon | bowdoini | Andrew’s beaked whale | 1908, Andrews | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Mesoplodon | grayi | Gray’s beaked whale | 1876, von Haast | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Mesoplodon | hectori | Hector’s beaked whale | 1871, J. E. Gray | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Mesoplodon | layardii | Strap-toothed beaked whale | 1865, J. E. Gray | Data deficient | ||
| Orcinus | orca | Killer whale | 1758, Linnaeus | Data deficient | ||
| Phocaena | dioptrica | Spectacled porpoise | 1912, Lahille | Data deficient | ||
| Physeter | macrocephalus | Sperm whale | 1758, Linnaeus | Vulnerable | Rare | |
| Pseudorca | crassidens | False killer whale | 1846, Owen | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Tasmacetus | shepherdi | Shepherd’s beaked whale | 1937, Oliver | Data deficient | Rare | |
| Tursiops | aduncus | Long-beaked bottle-nosed dolphin | 1832, Ehrenberg | Data deficient | ||
| Tursiops | truncatus | Bottlenose dolphin | 1821, Montagu | Least concern | ||
| Ziphius | cavirostris | Cuvier’s beaked whale | 1823, Cuvier | Least concern | Rare |
Revision log
- 28 April 2015 – Dan Monceaux
- 19 June 2019 – Added link to new iNaturalist project
List contributors: Dan Monceaux, Libby Eyre
Hi. Not sure if this is useful info, as it is obviously anecdotal and the incident is now over a decade old, but I’m pretty sure I saw a single Rough Toothed Dolphin/Steno bredanensis swimming with a pod of Bottlenoses while I was surfing near Sheringa beach, Eyre Peninsula once.
Basically, the dolphins came through the line up and for a split second I thought I was looking at a decent sized shark in amongst them because this one just happened to be swimming on it’s side as it passed me. Once my brain worked out that it wasn’t actually a vertical tail fin etc I paid more atttention to the rest of it, and it definitely didn’t look like a ‘normal’ dolphin.
I’d never really considered that there were multiple other species apart from Bottlenoses and Commons, but when I looked it up later, features like the low slung crocodile looking mouth, lack of noticeable melon bulge and blotchy belly skin matched pretty much spot on with what I feel like I saw.
I now know from looking on the distribution maps that they are not really supposed to reach here, but I’m around 90% sure that it is what I saw that day.
Hopefully someone finds this interesting, if not useful.