White-beaked Dolphin - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The species was first described by the British taxonomist John Edward Gray in 1846. Due to its relative abundance in European waters it was among the first of the genus Lagenorhynchus (lagenos, Latin for "bottle" or "flask"; rhynchos, "beak" or "snout") to be known to science. Its specific name, albirostris, translates to "white beak", a reference to the color of the species' beak, a diagnostic (albeit variable) trait useful in identification.