Common Dolphin
Delphinus delphis
They ride the bow waves of boats and even large whales, surfing the pressure waves for fun and to save energy.
- Scientific name
- Delphinus delphis
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Mammalia › Artiodactyla › Delphinidae › Delphinus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- aquatic
- Habitat
- Temperate, subtropical, and tropical oceans, primarily deep offshore waters and continental shelves.
- Diet
- Small schooling fish such as sardines, anchovies, and mackerel, as well as squid.
- Range
- Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea
- Size
- 1.9 to 2.5 meters in length, weighing up to 150 kg
- Lifespan
- 35-40 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Accidental entanglement in commercial fishing nets (bycatch), marine plastic pollution, and acoustic disturbance from shipping.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and highly social, but wild. Keep a safe distance of at least 50 yards if boating. Do not attempt to swim with, feed, or touch them. If they choose to bow-ride your vessel, maintain a steady speed and course to avoid accidental injury.
The short-beaked common dolphin ( Delphinus delphis ) is a species of common dolphin. It has a larger range than the long-beaked common dolphin ( D. capensis ), occurring throughout warm-temperate and tropical oceans, including the Indian Ocean although in smaller quantities than other places they are found. There are more short-beaked common dolphins than any other dolphin species in the warm-temperate portions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is also found in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. The...
Photo: Jorge Herreros de Lartundo, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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