When language is lacking

I’m on the deck of the Northlink ferry from mainland Scotland to Mainland Orkney when I see a black fin in the water. Obviously I’m carrying a camera with a telephoto lens, I am breathing after all, and despite the rolling movement of the ferry and the distance I manage to get a shot.

“It’s a whale or dolphin”, I say to myself wishing there was an easier single word for whales and dolphins in the English language then cetaceans.

Risso's Dolphin - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

It’s a Risso’s dolphin, Grampus griseus.

I wish there was a better way of saying how magical the experience of seeing them is in the English language as well.

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