Irrawaddy Dolphin:
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change recently launched the second nationwide range-wide estimation of riverine and estuarine dolphins under Project Dolphin, which, for the first time, includes the estimation of the Irrawaddy dolphin in the Sundarbans and in Odisha.
- It is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in discontinuous subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia.
- Euryhaline organisms survive in a range of salinity. These organisms thrive in saltwater, freshwater, and brackish water.
- Scientific Name: Orcaella brevirostris
- It is found in rivers in South and Southeast Asia: the Irrawaddy (Myanmar), the Mahakam (Kalimatan, Indonesia), and the Mekong (Cambodia).
- Indian presence: Occurs mainly in Chilika Lake (Odisha); also reported in the Sundarbans region.
- Irrawaddy dolphins prefer coastal areas, particularly muddy, brackish waters at river mouths and deltas, and do not appear to venture far offshore.
- Conservation Status:IUCN Red List: Endangered
