It is unlikely that you will see a lot of striped dolphins in Devon but we do get them from time to time. It is a pity that we do not see more because, in tropical waters, you can sometimes see hundreds at a time, jumping in and out of the water, performing all manner of acrobatics.
							Striped dolphins tend to live near the coast during the Winter and Spring but then, in the Summer and Autumn, when it is warmer, they move offshore, preferring deep and cool waters. They are found in tropical and subtropical waters all around the world but it is rare to see them in the coastal areas. In the Pacific, where they are common, their migratory paths are, unfortunately, well known to commercial fishermen. In Japan, for example, up to 20,000 striped dolphins are killed every year. Their diet is mostly fish taken from depths of about 600 to about 3,000 feet. In the Mediterranean they tend to eat sardines and anchovies but, in the Atlantic, their diet also includes small quantities of shrimps, octopus, squid and cuttlefish. When it is travelling, the striped dolphin often jumps out of the water, surfacing every five or every ten to twenty seconds. They can jump to twenty feet (six or seven metres) high and, sometimes, land on their sides. This is often seen by people on board liners since big ships attract herds of dolphins that come and play in their bow waves. The usual speed for a striped dolphin is somewhere between 15 to 17 knots (27.7 to 31.1 kilometres per hour) but it can swim up to 20 knots when it has to. It also likes lots of company, usually swimming in pods of ten to twenty individuals but, occasionally, these band together to form very large herds. In the Eastern tropical Pacific the striped dolphin sometimes swim with schools of tuna. It is thought that this is because the tuna is taking advantage of the fact that the dolphin is a better hunter. Unfortunately for the dolphin, this can lead to problems when people fish for the tuna. High powered speedboats and even helicopters chase the dolphins until they are tired. A huge purse seine net is then wrapped around the dolphins, to a depth of 300 feet, and then drawn to the surface, catching not only the tuna but also the dolphins as well. The idea is that the dolphins can jump out of the way but, in practice, they are usually far too tired and so many are killed.