📸 PhotoPhoto: NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center (NOAA) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Pacific White-sided Dolphin
Aethalodelphis obliquidens (Pacific White-sided Dolphin · 動物)
🇰🇷 Marine Protected Species (Korea)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A body length of 2.5 m is about 1.5 times the height of a 1.7 m adult (Comparison).
- 💡 A maximum weight of 180 kg equals nine 20 kg bags of rice (Comparison).
- 💡 In Korea, it is designated as a Marine Protected Species and can appear across all surrounding waters.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Pacific white-sided dolphin is a medium-sized dolphin living in the temperate waters of the North Pacific, traveling in groups of hundreds to thousands and enjoying leaps and spins.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is stout and its snout is short and thick. The dorsal fin curves strongly backward, with a black front half and a white rear half. A dark line separates the dark gray back and flanks from the white belly, and the jaws hold 23–36 pairs of teeth top and bottom.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on schooling small fish and squid, sometimes hunting prey in deep scattering layers together. It often forms mixed pods with other dolphin species, and calving extends from summer into autumn.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is designated as a Marine Protected Species in Korea and is listed under the Korean name Gopdeung-eo in the National List of Species of Korea. It may occur throughout all Korean waters.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/11145
- • 해양보호생물 — 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053384 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053384
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • Korean protection status: Marine Protected Species (Korea)
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006428
- • iucnredlist.org — 11145
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053384 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053384
- • wikidata.org — Q729
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Lagenorhynchus albirostris)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.