Photo: Bottlenose Dolphins Tail Flukes Valencia Aquarium

At the aquarium at the L'Oceanografic in Valencia, Spain the Bottlenose Dolphins give the audience a showing of their tail flukes.

As two of the twenty Bottlenose Dolphins who reside in the aquarium at the L'Oceanografic in Valencia, Spain show visitors their tail flukes, the trainer peacefully treads water beside them. The trainer is very comfortable in the water with these two Bottlenose Dolphins as they have come to trust each other completely after enduring many hours together.

The trainer can easily ask either of the dolphins to perform a certain behavior and they do not usually hesitate to abide.

Each lobe on the tail of Bottlenose Dolphins is called a fluke which is made up of very strong and thick fibrous connective tissue, there is no bone or muscle anywhere in their flukes. Veins encompass the flukes, which helps the dolphins to retain their body heat when swimming in the wild in extremely cold water. The tail flukes are the main part on a dolphin which entails its swimming as they move them up and down to push themselves through the water. ... continue below the picture...

This picture is part of the photo album "Dolphin Pictures" - there are more beautiful images waiting for you.

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Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, at the L'Oceanographic in the La Ciutat de les Arts i les Cienies Complex, Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, The City of the Arts and Science, in the City of Valencia, Valencia, Spain, Europe.