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Oceanic dolphins or Delphinidae are a widely distributed family of dolphins that live in the sea.Close to forty extant species are recognised. They include several big species whose common names contain "whale" rather than "dolphin", such as the Globicephalinae (round-headed whales, which include the false killer whale and pilot whale).
A common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the clade Odontoceti (toothed whale).Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the brackish dolphins), and possibly extinct Lipotidae (baiji or Chinese river dolphin).
The first oceanic dolphins such as kentriodonts, evolved in the late Oligocene and diversified greatly during the mid-Miocene. [52] The first fossil cetaceans near shallow seas (where porpoises inhabit) were found around the North Pacific; species like Semirostrum were found along California (in what were then estuaries). [ 53 ]
Carousel feeding has been documented only in the Norwegian orca population, as well as some oceanic dolphin species. [ 71 ] In New Zealand, sharks and rays appear to be important prey, including eagle rays , long-tail and short-tail stingrays , common threshers , smooth hammerheads , blue sharks , basking sharks , and shortfin makos .
The species is an average-sized oceanic dolphin. Females weigh up to 150 kg (330 lb) and males 200 kg (440 lb) with males reaching 2.5 m (8.2 ft) and females 2.3 m (7.5 ft) in length. Pacific white-sided dolphins usually tend to be larger than dusky dolphins. Females reach maturity at seven years.
The bottlenose dolphin is a toothed whale in the genus Tursiops.They are common, cosmopolitan members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. [3] Molecular studies show the genus contains three species: the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus), and Tamanend's bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops erebennus).
Short-finned pilot whales can reach up to 7.2 m (24 ft) in length and weigh up to 4,000 kg (8,800 lb), making it the third-largest species of oceanic dolphin, behind the orca and long-finned pilot whale. When they are born, short-finned pilot whales weigh about 60 kg (130 lb) at a length of 1.4 to 1.9 m (4 ft 7 in to 6 ft 3 in).
In comparison to other dolphin species, the Atlantic spotted dolphin is medium-sized. Newborn calves are about 35–43 in (89–109 cm) long, while adults can reach a length of 2.26 m (7 ft 5 in) and a weight of 140 kg (310 lb) in males, and 2.29 m (7 ft 6 in) and 130 kg (290 lb) in females.