Endangered
Tucuxi
Sotalia fluviatilis
Tucuxi is a mammal in the family Delphinidae (order Cetacea) — Sotalia fluviatilis, recorded as Endangered.
Appearance
The dolphin is colored light to bluish grey on its back and sides. It is theorized that this pinkish color may be caused or intensified by increased blood flow. The dorsal fluke is typically slightly hooked.
The beak is well-defined and of moderate length.
Range and habitat
The Tucuxi exists along much of the length of the Amazon River and many of its tributaries, and is found in Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and southeastern Colombia. Numerous individuals have been seen in the Orinoco River further north, though it is not clear whether these are Tucuxi or costero. The Tucuxi has recently been found to inhabit a larger range, among them the northeast portion of Brazil such as the state of Amapa, that includes more basins than the Amazon basin.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
Tucuxis have been observed to feed with other river dolphins.
In crisis
The Tucuxi is endemic to the regions described above. Although no precise estimates of population are available, it is common. The IUCN also cites habitat fragmentation by dam construction as a threat, though more detailed study is necessary. A few tucuxis remained in captivity in European aquaria among them Antwerpen Zoo, but the last one ("Paco") died in 2009 in the Zoo of Münster, Germany.
Tucuxi is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Tucuxi, Wikidata item Q935680. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
