Pacific White-sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)

Pacific White-sided Dolphin, Gulf of the Farallons Marine Sanctuary
Photograph by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce. License: Public Domain. (view image details)

PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN FACTS

Description
The Pacific White-sided Dolphin is black or dark gray on the back with white underside. The fins and flippers are unusual in that they are "two-tone", colored dark and white. They are sometimes seen in schools of 1000 or more.

Other Names
Pacific White-striped Dolphin

Size
Length 1.7m - 2.5m. Can grow to 3m. Weight 75-200kg.

Environment
deep temperate waters up to 160 km offshore.

Food
fish such as herring and mackerel.

Breeding
A single calf is born after a gestation period of about 11 months. The calf is about 1m long at birth and weighs about 7kg.

Range
from the Aleutian Islands to Baja California in the eastern Pacific and from Japan to the Kuril Islands in the western Pacific.

Notes
They are often seen swimming with seals and sea lions, and sometimes with other cetaceans, especially the northern right whale dolphin.

Classification

Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Cetacea
Family:	Delphinidae
Genus:	Lagenorhynchus
Species:	obliquidens
Common Name:	Pacific White-sided Dolphin

Relatives in same Genus
Atlantic White-sided Dolphin (L. acutus)
White-beaked Dolphin (L. albirostris)

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