Stenella

Taxobox
name = "Stenella"


image_width = 250px
image_caption = Striped Dolphin
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
subclassis = Eutheria
ordo = Cetacea
subordo = Odontoceti
familia = Delphinidae
genus = "Stenella"
genus_authority = Gray, 1866
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = "Stenella attenuata"
"Stenella frontalis"
"Stenella longirostris"
"Stenella clymene"
"Stenella coeruleoalba"

Stenella is a genus in the dolphin family. Currently five species are recognised in this genus:
*Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, "S. attenuata"
*Atlantic Spotted Dolphin, "S. frontalis"
*Spinner Dolphin, "S. longirostris"
*Clymene Dolphin, "S. clymene"
*Striped Dolphin, "S. coeruleoalba"

The common name for species in this species is the "spotted dolphins" or the "bridled dolphins". They are found in temperate and tropical seas all around the world. Individuals of several species begin their lives spotless and become steadily more covered in darker spots as they get older.

The species name comes from the Greek "stenos" meaning narrow. It was coined by John Gray in 1866. He intended it as a subgenus of "Steno". Modern taxonomists recognise two genera.