Commerson's dolphin
Amazing fact
Commerson's dolphins communicate by rubbing the small serrations on the edges of their flippers together.
鳥羽水族館
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Commerson's dolphins communicate by rubbing the small serrations on the edges of their flippers together.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Commerson's dolphin
- Scientific name
- Cephalorhynchus commersonii
- Japanese name
- イロワケイルカ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Cephalorhynchus
A dolphin of places such as the southern tip of South America. It lives in shallow waters near the coast, in bays and at river mouths.
Its body is sharply marked in black and white. The head and the flippers are black.
Lining up with others in a half circle, it may drive a school of fish toward the shore to catch them.
How the Commerson's dolphin lives
They use echoes to hunt even in dark water. They eat small fish as well as squid and octopus. They often swim with their bellies facing upward. They ride sea waves and waves made by boats.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Lifespan
- up to 23 years in the wild, up to 25.8 years in captivityUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Southern tip of South America and the Kerguelen Islands鳥羽水族館
Where the Commerson's dolphin has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- イロワケイルカ
- 简体中文
- 康氏矮海豚
- 繁體中文
- 康氏矮海豚
- 한국어
- 머리코돌고래
- Español
- Tonina overa
- Français
- Dauphin de Commerson
- Deutsch
- Commerson-Delfin
- Português (Brasil)
- Golfinho-de-commerson
- Italiano
- Cefalorinco di Commerson
- العربية
- دلفين كومرسون
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá heo Commerson
- Русский
- Дельфин Коммерсона
- Türkçe
- Alaca yunus
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — イロワケイルカChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Cephalorhynchus commersoniiChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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