'Patches' The Rare Dolphin Seen With Pod Off Oceanside Coast

OCEANSIDE, CA — 'Patches' the black and white leucistic bottlenose dolphin may be the most famous dolphin in Southern California. Without a doubt, he has superstar status in Oceanside, where sightings of the uniquely colored dolphin are celebrated and documented.

Oceanside Adventures has been recording sightings and sharing photos and videos of Patches for over 10 years. Patches even has his own webpage where people can submit their own sightings of the rare dolphin.

According to the webpage, Patches is an offshore bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) with a condition called leucism, which gives it an unmistakable color pattern. He (we guess Patches is male because he has never been seen with a calf) usually travels with a large group of conspecifics and has been reported all over the Southern California Bight, from the Mexican Border to the Santa Barbara Channel.

Earlier this month, Oceanside Adventures had another encounter with Patches.

Drone photography by Oside_Kayak_Guy

View past sightings of Patches from Oceanside Adventures

Aug 28th- Sept. 2nd, 2019 - Patches and Friends
A few highlights from this past week aboard the Oceanside Adventures Luxury Catamaran with Captain Shane. We have seen Humpback whales, Fin whales, Minke whales, thousands of common dolphin, Bottlenose dolphin and Risso's dolphin!

June 18, 2017 - Aboard the Oceanside Adventures with Captain Shane and crew, we found 900 common dolphin, 90 offshore bottlenose dolphin including the famous PATCHES and 3 mola mola (ocean sunfish)

Oceanside Adventures is a luxury Whale Watching company located in front of the historic Light House in Oceanside Harbor.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how we can improve Oceanside-Camp Pendleton Patch? Interested in advertising your business in Oceanside? Email any inquiries to me at lisa.frost@patch.com.

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