# 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.

- **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.

## About

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...

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/6862abdc-a406-463a-9146-3cfdeed39abd
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/41526
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinus delphis
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/71700771/medium.jpg (Jorge Herreros de Lartundo, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.