dolphin
Other forms: dolphins
Dolphins are smart, sociable aquatic mammals that live in every ocean on the planet. Scientists aren't sure why they do it, but dolphins are known for leaping above the surface of the water as they swim.
Dolphins are one of the most commonly recognized and beloved sea creatures, in part because they are gregarious and friendly. Their playful nature and intelligence have brought dolphins into close contact with humans, not always to their benefit. Scientists have learned that dolphins live longer, happier lives when they're not in captivity, so you're less likely to see dolphins at an aquarium than in the past. Dolphins are mammals, giving birth to live babies, which may explain the Greek root of dolphin, delphys, meaning "womb."
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any of various small toothed whales with a beaklike snout; larger than porpoises
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types:
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Delphinus delphis, common dolphin
black-and-white dolphin that leaps high out of the water;
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bottle-nosed dolphin, bottlenose, bottlenose dolphin
any of several dolphins with rounded forehead and well-developed beak; chiefly of northern Atlantic and Mediterranean
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porpoise
any of several small gregarious cetacean mammals having a blunt snout and many teeth
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Grampus griseus, grampus
slaty-grey blunt-nosed dolphin common in northern seas
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Orcinus orca, grampus, killer, killer whale, orca, sea wolf
predatory black-and-white toothed whale with large dorsal fin; common in cold seas
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Globicephala melaena, black whale, blackfish, common blackfish, pilot whale
small dark-colored whale of the Atlantic coast of the United States; the largest male acts as pilot or leader for the school
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river dolphin
any of several long-snouted usually freshwater dolphins of South America and southern Asia
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Delphinapterus leucas, beluga, white whale
small northern whale that is white when adult
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Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus
the most common dolphin of northern Atlantic and Mediterranean; often kept captive and trained to perform
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Pacific bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops gilli
a bottlenose dolphin found in the Pacific Ocean
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Phocoena phocoena, harbor porpoise, herring hog
the common porpoise of the northern Atlantic and Pacific
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Phocoena sinus, vaquita
a short porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California; an endangered species
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type of:
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toothed whale
any of several whales having simple conical teeth and feeding on fish etc.
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large slender food and game fish widely distributed in warm seas (especially around Hawaii)
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synonyms:
dolphinfish, mahimahi
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types:
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Coryphaena hippurus
the more common dolphinfish valued as food; about six feet long
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Coryphaena equisetis
a kind of dolphinfish
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type of:
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percoid, percoid fish, percoidean
any of numerous spiny-finned fishes of the order Perciformes
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Coryphaena hippurus
/ˈdɑlfɪn/
/ˈdɒlfɪn/
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