Which species of toothed dolphins and whales are found in Hawaii and why ?

There are 38 dolphin species in the world. Four (4) of them live exclusively in freshwater, one (1) is found both in freshwater and coastal habitats, ten (10) are found in coastal, nearshore waters, while the remaining 23 are oceanic, spending most of their time on the slopes of the continental shelf or farther offshore. Most dolphin studies have been done on the coastal form of the bottlenose dolphin. The most extensively studied community, about 100 animals found in the waters off Sarasota, Florida, rarely if ever get into waters deeper than 8 meters (25 feet). By contrast, over half of all dolphin species stay in waters deeper than 100 meters, generally several kilometers offshore. However, when oceanic islands are located in or near the normal range of these offshore species, they can be found unusually close to shore. This is the case in Hawai‘i where normally offshore, or pelagic species, such as spinner, spotted and rough-toothed dolphins can be found unusually close to shore on a regular basis.

The location of the Hawaiian Islands also causes a large amount of nutrients to be directed towards the surface, in an otherwise very nutrient-poor part of the Pacific Ocean. This in turn supports a very rich, stable local ecosystem that can support many species of top predators. In fact, one of the richest Big-game fishing industries in the world is found off the Island of Hawai‘i. For marine mammals, this means that seven (7) species of dolphins can be found in Hawaiian waters on a regular basis and another ten (10) species of dolphins and toothed whales can be seen with varying frequency. These species are listed in the next section.