Is it a shark? Is it a killer whale? No, it’s defintely a dolphin – even if it has got a dorsal fin!

This Risso’s dolphin was spotted by the Falcon Boats team as they sailed just off Grassholm Island early on Sunday morning (11 June).

“These guys are pretty cool as they’re often mistaken for an Orca or even a Great White Shark as a result of their prominent dorsal fin,” said Ffion Rees, the owner and director of Falcon Boats.

“But their skin is always marked with white scars from the teeth of their own kind as well as by the beaks of the giant squid.”

A Risso by the name of Pelorus Jack gained notoriety back in the early 1900s when he guided boats across the Cook Strait in New Zealand.

And it was Pelorus Jack who sparked the first government protection for a cetacean in 1904 after someone fired a rifle at him.

The Risso's Dolphin is the largest of the species, with the adults appearing almost white.  This is why they are sometimes mistaken for a killer whale.

They feed on squid, octopus and cuttlefis, have blunt heads and are dark grey in colour which becomes much paler over time. 

Old individuals can appear almost totally white. They are generally very timid mammals and rarely approach boats.

The Risso is generally uncommon in Britain and is found only in a relatively few places along the western coast. But even here, they generally have a very patchy distribution.

Their numbers remain small in north Wales, despite there being a particularly rich cetacean fauna here including whales, bottlenose dolphins and harbour porpoises.

Further south, Cardigan Bay is home to the UK’s largest semi-resident population of bottlenose dolphin in summer months, but once again, there are very few Risso’s dolphins.

The occur mainly off Pembrokeshire and the Llyn Peninsula, particularly around Bardsey, where they can be seen in small numbers of generally less than a dozen, between September and November.

Indeed there have been more sightings of Risso's Dolphins off the Pembrokeshire coast than anywhere else in the UK based on the findings of Sea Trust conservationists who previously carried out a monitoring assessment from the bridge of the Stena Line ferry as it sailed between Fishguard and Rosslare.

Their study aimed to determine the dolphin, whale and porpoise numbers throughout the year to assist the Welsh government in compiling its marine protection policies.