Flipping heck! New dolphin species discovered in Victoria

THEIR name may be a bit of a mouthful, but our newest species of dolphin is creating waves of excitement.

Dolphins

THEY'RE not as famous as Flipper and their name may be a bit of a mouthful to pronounce, but our newest species of dolphin is certainly creating waves of excitement in the marine world.

The amazing find of the Burrunan dolphin is one of only three new species discovered in Australian waters since the late 1800s.

Researchers had believed the small colonies living along Australia's south-east coast were made up of either common or bottle-nosed dolphins.

But after endless weeks of research, analysis and testing, Monash University researcher Kate Charlton-Robb found they belong to neither group.

Ms Charlton-Robb said the pods of 150 or so dolphins found along Victoria's Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes have different skulls, DNA and physical traits from other dolphins in Australia.

Ms Charlton-Robb also compared the new species with specimens dating back to the early 1900s.

Her discovery means the playful marine mammals, otherwise called Tursiops australis, can now be officially recognised as their own unique species.

Burrunan is an Aboriginal name meaning large sea fish of the porpoise kind.

"This is an incredibly fascinating discovery as there have only been three new dolphin species formally described and recognised since the late 1800s," Ms Charlton-Robb said.

"What makes this even more exciting is this dolphin species has been living right under our noses, with only two known resident populations living in Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes in Victoria."

Ms Charlton-Robb said more research was now needed to determine whether there were other populations of the Burrunan dolphin in Australia.

“We know these unique dolphins are restricted to a very small region of the world, in addition the resident populations are very small with only approximately 100 dolphins in Port Phillip Bay and 50 in the Gippsland Lakes," she said.

"Even though we have progressed a long way in science, this study shows there are still new and exciting discoveries to be made."

Ms Charlton-Robb's findings have been published in the latest PLoS ONE journal.