Irrawaddy Dolphins' History

The Irrawaddy Dolphin was first described by Sir Richard Owen in 1866 based on a specimen found in 1852, in the harbour of Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India. It is one of two species in its genus. It has sometimes been listed variously in a family containing just itself and in Monodontidae and in Delphinapteridae. There is now widespread agreement to list it in the Delphinidae family.
Genetically the Irrawaddy Dolphin is closely related to the Orca. The species name brevirostris comes from the Latin meaning short-beaked. In 2005, genetic analysis showed that the Australian Snubfin Dolphin found at the coast of northern Australia forms a second species in the Orcaella genus.
Overall grey to dark slate blue, paler underneath. No distinctive pattern. Dorsal fin small and rounded behind middle of back. Forehead high and rounded; beak lacking. Broad rounded flippers. The similar species that can be found in Borneo is the Finless Porpoise, Neophocaena phocaenoides, is similar and has no back fin: the Humpback Dolphin, Sausa chinensis, is larger, has longer beak and larger dorsal fin.
The several common names for Orcaella brevirostris (Latin) include: English: Irrawaddy dolphin, Local Chilika dialect: Baslnyya Magar or Bhuasuni Magar (oil yielding dolphin), Oriya: Khem and Khera^], French: Orcelle, Spanish: Delfín del Irrawaddy, German: Irrawadi Delphin, Burmese: Labai, Indonesia: Pesut, Malay: Lumbalumba, Khmer: ផ្សោត Ph’sout , Lao: Pha’ka and Filipino: Lampasut. In Thai, one of its names is pla loma hua bat, because its rounded head is thought to resemble the shape of a Buddhist monk's bowl, a hua bat.