Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) lives in the muddy waters of the
Ganges,
Brahmaputra and
Hooghly river systems.
It is usually a solitary creature, has a quite stocky body with a long beak that thickens at the tip. The dorsal fin is undeveloped, and flippers are large being more of a triangular ridge than a fin. The eyes are very small, and the forehead rises steeply. The skin color is light grey-brown and pale at the belly, often with a tinge of pink. The eye lacks a lens, as a result its functions exclusively as a means of detecting the way of light. Echolocation is used to detect food and navigate. Individuals tend to swim with one flipper trailing along the substrate, and will root around with their beak to disturb and detect the shrimp and fish upon which they feed.
The local name ‘susu’ is said to refer to the noise this dolphin makes when it breathes.
