Pacific white-sided dolphin
Amazing fact
Pacific white-sided dolphins grip prey with their teeth and swallow fish whole, head first.
NOAA Fisheries
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Pacific white-sided dolphins grip prey with their teeth and swallow fish whole, head first.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Pacific white-sided dolphin
- Scientific name
- Lagenorhynchus obliquidens
- Japanese name
- カマイルカ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Delphinidae
- Genus
- Lagenorhynchus
A dolphin found widely in the temperate North Pacific, and often seen in the seas near Japan.
Its Japanese name means 'sickle dolphin', because its dorsal fin looks like the blade of a sickle for cutting grass. Its body is black and white.
It usually travels in groups, which can sometimes become very large. It eats small schooling fish and squid.
How the Pacific white-sided dolphin lives
They work together to herd schools of fish. They swim in the waves at the front of ships. They may leap from the water and spin in the air. They communicate with one another using whistle-like calls.
NOAA FisheriesUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- Body length: about 2 mLength: 1.7–2.5 m名古屋港水族館University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Weight
- 78–200 kgUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Lifespan
- up to 46 years in captivityUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Diet
- Small fish and squidUniversity of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
- Range
- Temperate waters of the North Pacific名古屋港水族館
Where the Pacific white-sided 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
- カマイルカ
- 简体中文
- 太平洋短吻海豚
- 繁體中文
- 太平洋短吻海豚
- 한국어
- 낫돌고래
- Deutsch
- Weißstreifendelfin
- Português (Brasil)
- Golfinho-de-laterais-brancas-do-pacífico
- Italiano
- Lagenorinco dai denti obliqui
- العربية
- دلفين باسيفيكي أبيض الجنب
- Tiếng Việt
- Cá heo hông trắng Thái Bình Dương
- Русский
- Тихоокеанский дельфин
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 名古屋港水族館 — カマイルカChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Lagenorhynchus obliquidensChecked: 2026-11-03
- NOAA Fisheries — Pacific White-Sided DolphinChecked: 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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