Marine Mammals
The Greek seas are rich in large marine mammals, a fact unknown to most Greeks ,although reported since ancient times. Indeed, the Minoan frescoes depicting dolphins in Queen's Megaron at Knossos, indicate that Minoans knew many things about these creatures and respected them.
Marine mammals differ from fish as they do not have gills for breathing, but lungs. Apart from the famous endangered Mediterranean monk seal, which lives in almost all the coasts of the country, Greece hosts whales, sperm whales, dolphins and porpoises. These are either permanent residents of the Mediterranean, or just occasional visitors. Especially the area south of Crete, known as the Greek Abyss, hosts many of them.
The Mediterranean Monk Seal (scient. Monachus monachus) is one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world, with a few hundred people remaining. In Crete, the population is very small compared to the rest of the Aegean Sea, but it still needs protection.
The sperm whale (scient. Physeter macrocephalus) is a unique species of mammal found throughout the globe. Especially in the Mediterranean, most whales, some hundreds, live in the very deep waters south of Crete.
The fin whale (scient. Balaenoptera physalus), finback whale, razorback, or common rorqual is the second largest mammal in the world, after the blue whale. In Greece there are fin whales, some of which have been observed occasionally in the deep waters of south Crete.
The common minke whale (scient. Balaenoptera acutorostrata) is a small whale species, worldwide distributed, which is found quite often in the seas of the western Mediterranean Sea and less in Greek and Cretan Seas.
The Common Bottlenose Dolphin (scient. Tursiops truncates) is a common species in Greek waters, widespread throughout the world. It is often found near the coasts of Crete, even very close to the shore, forming groups of up to 100 individuals. On the other hand, meeting that in the open sea is very rare. It is named bottlenose due to the animal having a short rounded snout that looks like a bottle.
Risso’s dolphin (scient. Grampus griseus) is a species of dolphin that lives in all oceans of the world. This species has relatively small populations in all the Greek seas, with the seas of Crete being among them (mainly sea north of Crete).
The common short-beaked dolphin (scient. Delphinus delphis) was once the most common dolphin species in Greece, but unfortunately it is nowadays threatened with extinction. Indeed, the name “common” was firstly given by Aristotle in ancient times, due to its abundance in Greek Seas. Today it lives mainly in the Ionian Sea and is rarely found in Crete.
The striped dolphin (scient. Stenella coeruleoalba) is the most common species of dolphin in Greek waters. It is usully found far from the coasts, in the open Aegean and Ionian Sea, south of Crete or close to the coasts if the water is very deep. It lives in flocks of 50-100 individuals, and often coexists with other dolphins, such as the Common dolphin and Risso’s dolphin.
Cuvier's Beaked Whale (scient. Ziphius cavirostris) is a large whale, which is found in almost all seas of the world. They have been observed many times in several places of Greece, with Crete is one of them.
False Killer whale (scient. Pseudorca crassidens) is a large dolphin (not whale), which is very rare in the waters of Greece and more frequent in the Eastern Mediterranean (Israel, Cyprus). There has never been reported a pseudorca in Crete, but the occasional visits of this kind in the Aegean Sea, make its existence around Crete almost certain.