Rare Rainbow Dolphins spotted off Brighton – experts utterly unphased

Brighton’s seaside strollers got a colourful surprise this week as a pod of Rainbow Dolphins sashayed past the West Pier, shimmering like a Pride flag left out in the sun.

Dr April Phouul of the globally renowned Cetacean Underwater Nautical Tracking Society confirmed the sightings, noting that while Rainbow Dolphins rarely venture this far north, “they do enjoy a cheeky Channel getaway when the water turns toasty.” According to Dr Phouul, an odd combo of warm seas, pink jellyfish, and the dolphins’ early‑April hormone surge gives them their trademark technicolour glow.

Rainbow Dolphins are also well-known for forming same-sex parenting pairs—“a completely natural behaviour,” said Dr Phouul, “and frankly far more organised than most humans.”

For three days the pod has been cruising the extremely low spring tides, getting unusually close to curious beachgoers poking around the exposed foreshore.

Scene magazine also spoke to Sussex University’s Professor Uni Korn, who offered stern advice for would‑be dolphin whisperers: don’t. “They’re wild, territorial, and not afraid to defend their babies, or their personal space,” warned Professor Korn. “Beware: these Rainbows are fierce.”

Korn recalled a dramatic incident last year in Devon when two paddle‑boarders on a giant inflatable flamingo were surrounded by a pod of irritated Rainbow Dolphins “who hissed like overcaffeinated geese and slapped the water in what we call a warning shantay.”

If confronted, Korn recommends emitting a loud, high‑pitched squeal. “It confuses them. Think Mariah Carey doing scales in a wetsuit.”

Local fishers have already captured dazzling footage of the pod gliding just off Brighton’s coast.

If you spot one—or catch them serving aquatic rainbow realness on camera - email your sighting to April1st@phouul.com.