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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).
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]
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 false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is a species of oceanic dolphin that is the only extant representative of the genus Pseudorca. It is found in oceans worldwide but mainly in tropical regions. It was first described in 1846 as a species of porpoise based on a skull, which was revised when the first carcasses were observed in 1861.
Oceanic dolphins are the members of the family Delphinidae. As the name implies, they tend to be found in the open seas, unlike the river dolphins , although a few species such as the Irrawaddy dolphin are coastal or riverine.
The snubfin dolphins (Orcaella) contain two of the 35 species of oceanic dolphins that make up the Cetacean family of Delphinidae. [5] The phylogenetic status of Orcaella has long been confused. Although the snubfin dolphins share similar external features with the Monodontidae (narwhal), [ 2 ] a genetic study conducted by Arnason and ...
Cetacea (/ s ɪ ˈ t eɪ ʃ ə /; from Latin cetus 'whale', from Ancient Greek κῆτος () 'huge fish, sea monster') [3] is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
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). [10] [11]