# Whale and dolphin species off Pico
Question: Which whales and dolphins are recorded in the waters off Pico?

URL: https://picoisland.pt/whale-watching/species
Status: verified
Last verified: 2026-10-03

The sperm whale dominates the OBIS records for the waters around Pico, with 11,027, and the common dolphin is the most-recorded dolphin, with 6,297. Fin and blue whales are recorded mainly between March and June. Orcas are rare in the data, at 67 records. These count sightings logged, not animals, and boats log most of them in summer.

## Where these numbers come from

Every count on these pages comes from OBIS, the Ocean Biodiversity Information System, an open
database that pools species occurrence records from research surveys, monitoring programmes and
other contributors. Each figure is the answer to one query: one species, inside a fixed box of sea
around Pico that also takes in the channel to Faial, which the boats from Madalena work. The query
is linked beside each figure, so anyone can run it again and get the same answer, or a newer one.

## What a record is, and is not

A record is one logged observation of a species at a place and a time. It is **not an animal**:
the same group seen from three boats on one morning can be three records, and a whale nobody saw
is not in the data at all. It is **not a probability** either. Records are made by people on the
water, and people are on the water mostly in the warmer months, so the counts follow boats as much
as they follow whales. A quiet month can mean a quiet harbour as easily as an empty sea.

Read the counts as "when and how often this species has been logged here", and they are useful.
Read them as "my chance of seeing one in May", and they will mislead you.

## The five species covered

- [Sperm whale](/whale-watching/species/sperm-whale): the most-recorded cetacean in these waters
  by a wide margin, and the only one of the five logged in every month of the year.
- [Common dolphin](/whale-watching/species/common-dolphin): the most-recorded dolphin, logged from
  March to October.
- [Fin whale](/whale-watching/species/fin-whale): logged from March to September, with May the
  busiest month.
- [Blue whale](/whale-watching/species/blue-whale): logged from March to July, and almost entirely
  between March and June.
- [Orca](/whale-watching/species/orca): rare in the data, with records scattered across spring and
  early summer.

The [season calendar](/whale-watching/season-calendar) sets these side by side with six more
species (sei whale, short-finned pilot whale, and the bottlenose, Risso's, Atlantic spotted and
striped dolphins), month by month, with the query behind every row.

## What this section does not tell you

Body size, weight, diving depth and the share of trips that see a given species are absent. None
of them has been checked against a primary source here, so they are left out rather than
approximated. For the rules a boat works to around all of these animals, and the licensed
operators who run trips, see [whale watching on Pico](/whale-watching).

## Sources

- Most-recorded cetacean species in OBIS (Pico waters): Sperm whale (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/checklist?scientificname=Cetacea&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Most-recorded dolphin species in OBIS (Pico waters): Common dolphin (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/checklist?scientificname=Cetacea&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Sperm whale records in OBIS (Pico waters): 11,027 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Physeter+macrocephalus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Common dolphin records in OBIS (Pico waters): 6,297 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Delphinus+delphis&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Fin whale records in OBIS (Pico waters): 1,137 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Balaenoptera+physalus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Blue whale records in OBIS (Pico waters): 678 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Balaenoptera+musculus&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)
- Orca records in OBIS (Pico waters): 67 (source: https://api.obis.org/v3/occurrence?scientificname=Orcinus+orca&geometry=POLYGON%28%28-28.65+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.25%2C+-27.95+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.7%2C+-28.65+38.25%29%29)