Remembering Confi: Goodbye to a Solitary Dolphin from Galicia

Meeting Confi the solitary-sociable dolphin

I met my first solitary-sociable dolphin in June 2023. His name was Confi (although some people called him Manoliño), and he had been living in the Ría de Muros-Noia in Galicia, Spain for a few years by that point. I had travelled to Galicia specifically to meet the people monitoring Confi, as I had been interested in solitary dolphins for many years and had written several articles about them. Yet, I had never seen one in real life, and I wanted to understand the situation firsthand so that I could learn more about how we can protect these special individuals.

The 34^th European Cetacean Society conference had taken place just a few weeks earlier in O Grove in Galicia which had given me the opportunity to meet colleagues from CEMMA and TRAGSATEC who were closely monitoring Confi. They invited me to visit one day, and organised for us to go out with the local fisheries officers. We found Confi resting by the harbour wall in Portosín, and watched him follow a fishing boat out into the Ría. This was the first time I had seen him – the bottlenose dolphin that I had heard so much about.

Confi was a typical solitary-sociable dolphin – if there is such a thing – because really they are all unique individuals with different personalities and life stories attached to them. But he was typical insofar as he had been solitary for some time, and he demonstrated the sociable behaviours towards humans that are common among these atypical cetaceans. From my research, I knew that solitary dolphins do not necessarily turn into solitary-sociable dolphins and that it is better for people to keep away from them so that they have a chance to go and live with other dolphins. However, sometimes a lone dolphin will stay in one place for an extended period which may lead to opportunities for them to get close to people. Once physical contact between dolphin and human has been initiated, it is hard to go back. People seek out the dolphin and the dolphin seeks out people. This was what had happened to Confi.

Dangerous interactions with a wild dolphin

The rías of Galicia are beautiful, large estuaries and in the one where Confi had made his home, there were many shellfish divers known as navalleiros. These divers work from small boats, using a tube that provides air from the surface while they collect razor clams from the seabed. It was through contact with one of them that Confi first started exhibiting his human-friendly behaviour.

Many people imagine that interacting with a dolphin in the wild must be a magical, maybe even spiritual, experience. In many cases this may be true, but the reality is more complicated in the case of solitary-sociable dolphins like Confi. Bottlenose dolphins are large, strong, wild animals. When we encourage them to interact with us in the water, we can cause their behaviour to change over time. They can become more confident and more dominant in their interactions with swimmers and divers, and this may put both dolphin and people in the water at risk.

Confi was about three metres long and weighed about 400 kg, and there were several occasions when his behaviour put the navalleiros in danger. He would remove their diving equipment, once entangled a diver in the air hose, and on another occasion pulled a diver dangerously to the surface, causing injury and risking decompression sickness. His interactions with other people using the Ría  could also be risky: on a day when he was surrounded by swimmers and personal watercraft, Confi bit a bather on the leg.

Of course, the story is not one-sided and we should not think of Confi as the villain. Confi suffered at the hands of humans too. In October 2022, someone shot him with a speargun, and the harpoon remained stuck in his side for 16 days. Attempts by the local animal rescue team and CEMMA to remove it were unsuccessful but, luckily, Confi managed to dislodge it himself. The wound healed well, leaving a scar on his side. After this incident, Confi was more cautious of people for a while but, before long, he was back to his usual tricks.

A tragic ending

In 2024, Confi left the Ría where he had spent the previous years and moved further north. By the end of that year, he was spending most of his time in the Ría de Ferrol. In June 2025, a few weeks passed without news of him. No official report of his death was received by CEMMA, but some photos reached them showing a dead dolphin who appeared to have a scar in the same place as Confi’s harpoon wound. The photos showed large cuts on the dolphin’s body consistent with injuries from a boat propeller, compelling evidence that Confi’s closeness to humans had finally caused his death.

When I heard the news, I was heartbroken. At OceanCare, we had tried to support our friends and colleagues in Galicia to help keep Confi safe. But these are challenging circumstances. Once a solitary dolphin starts socialising with people, it is hard to prevent risky encounters, and sadly there are many cases where these dolphins end up injured or dead.

I am sure that Confi will be remembered fondly by most of the people who met him. I will never forget the time I spent with him in the Ría de Muros-Noia. As well as seeing him close up from the boat, one evening I went for a walk by the harbour at O Freixo. I heard him before I saw him – a dolphin’s blow is quite a loud sound when you are alone in a quiet harbour. There was no one else around, and I watched him swimming slowly alongside the dock wall,hoping that he would stay safe. I am sad that Confi is no longer swimming freely in the Galician rías, but I believe we have learnt some important lessons from him – lessons that will help us better protect solitary dolphins in the future.

For more information about solitary-sociable dolphins around the world and the stages that they tend to go through as they become habituated to humans – please see our review paper HERE.

OceanCare calls on everyone to behave carefully around wild dolphins, especially solitary ones and to never enter the water to attempt to swim with them or touch them.

Thank you to our friends and colleagues at CEMMA and TRAGSATEC who worked tirelessly for many years to protect Confi and to educate people about how to interact appropriately with wild dolphins.