Hector's Dolphin (Tutumairekurai)

The Hector's dolphin is the smallest dolphin species in the world. Adult females reach a maximum size of about 1.4 m while adult males are a little smaller at around 1.3 m.
These dolphins are amongst the world's rarest dolphins with a total population of 6000 to 7000 worldwide. Hector's dolphin is listed as "endangered" by the IUCN.
They are reasonably common around Banks Peninsula and today we were lucky enough to see about 40 swimming around near to the entrance of Lyttelton Harbour. A wonderful sight but hard to get a good shot!