page_title: Oceanic dolphin
section_title: Taxonomy
hierarchical_section_title: Oceanic dolphin / Taxonomy
caption_attribution_description: English: Skull of Etruridelphis giulii (formerly Steno bellardii), a fossil dolphin. Original from the Pliocene near Pisa (Italy), now lost. Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini, Bologna.Italiano: Modello dell'olotipo di Etruridelphis giulii (precedentemente Steno bellardii), un delfino fossile. L'originale, proveniente dal Pliocene della provincia di Pisa, è andato perduto. Bologna, Museo Geologico Giovanni Capellini.
context_page_description: Oceanic dolphins or Delphinidae are a widely distributed family of dolphins that live in the sea. Thirty extant species are described. They include several big species whose common names contain "whale" rather than "dolphin", such as the killer whale and the pilot whales. Delphinidae is a family within the superfamily Delphinoidea, which also includes the porpoises and the Monodontidae. River dolphins are relatives of the Delphinoidea.
  Oceanic dolphins range in size from the 1.7-metre-long and 50-kilogram Maui's dolphin to the 9.4-metre and 10-metric-ton killer whale, the largest known dolphin. Several species exhibit sexual dimorphism; the males are larger than females. They have streamlined bodies and two limbs that are modified into flippers. Though not quite as flexible as seals, some dolphins can travel at speeds 29 km/h for short distances. Most delphinids primarily eat fish, along with a smaller number of squid and small crustaceans, but some species specialise in eating squid, or, in the case of the killer whale, also eat marine mammals and birds. All, however, are purely carnivorous.
context_section_description: Delphinids, especially bottlenose dolphins, are able to hybridize with a wide variety of other delphinid species; wolphins are just one of many possible hybrids.
  Six species, sometimes referred to as "blackfish", are dolphins commonly called whales: the killer whale, the melon-headed whale, the pygmy killer whale, the false killer whale, and the two species of pilot whales, but they are classified under the family Delphinidae.
  Recent molecular analyses indicate that several delphinid genera (especially Stenella and Lagenorhynchus) are not monophyletic as currently recognized. Thus, significant taxonomic revisions within the family are likely.
caption: Etruridelphis giulii skull in Bologna
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