Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 141, September 2016, pp. 1-19. | Page 3

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A Whale Vertebrae Bone at the Diving Village, Heritage Village, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. 19.03.2015. Photo by: Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Khalaf-von Jaffa.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/50022881@N00/16308655063/
In general, the deep waters on the edge of the continental shelf off the UAE's east
coast harbour different species than the warm, sandy shallow waters of the
Arabian Gulf. In the former habitat, one may find the mighty Sperm Whale
(Physeter macrocephalus) that reaches 20 m in length, and the even larger Blue
whale (Balaenoptera musculus) who used to grow to 30 meters in length (in the
days before they were hunted intensively) as well as the largest of the dolphins,
the 4 meter long Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) (Jongbloed, 2004).
In the Arabian Gulf habitat of shallow water channels between mudbanks and
mangrove swamps lining the offshore islands, the rare Finless porpoise
(Neophocaena phocaenoides) is most at ease, while the quite common but shy IndoPacific Humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) stays in shallow but open waters
(Jongbloed, 2004).
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 141 – September 2016