The Common Dolphin is the name given to two, or occasionally one species of dolphin, making up the genus Delphinus. The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive. ... This picture was taken from http://nmml. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicates Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary... Suborders Mysticeti Odontoceti (see text) The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... Genera See text Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is a standard convention used for naming species. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature is a standard convention used for naming species. ... Genera See article below. ... See genus (mathematics) for the use of the term in mathematics. ...

Prior to the mid-1990s, most taxonomists only recognised one species in this genus, the Common Dolphin Delphinus delphis. Modern cetologists usually recognise two species - the Short-beaked Common Dolphin, which retains the systematic name Delphinus delphis, and the Long-beaked Common Dolphin D. capensis. Despite its name the Common Dolphin is not the dolphin of popular imagination - that distinction belongs to the Bottlenose Dolphin, largely due to the television series Flipper. Taxonomy (from Greek ταξινομία (taxinomia) from the words taxis = order and nomos = law) may refer to either a hierarchical classification of things, or the principles underlying the classification. ... No branch of Zoology is so much involved as that which is entitled Cetology - from Moby Dick by Herman Melville. ... Binomial name Tursiops truncatus Montagu, 1821 The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is the most common and well-known dolphin species. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... The term flipper has a number of meanings: Flipper is the name of several TV series and films featuring extremely intelligent bottlenose dolphins of the same name. ...

Differentiating species

Despite the historic practice of lumping the entire Delpinus genus into a single species, these widely distributed dolphins exhibit a wide variety of size, shape and colour. Indeed over the past few decades over 20 distinct species in the genus have been proposed. Scientists in California in the 1960s concluded that there were two species - the long-beaked and short-beaked. This analysis was essentially confirmed by a more in-depth genetic study in the 1990s. This study also suggested that a third species (D. tropicalis, common name usually Arabian Common Dolphin), characterized by an extremely long and thin beak and found in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, might be distinguished from the long-beaked species. The current standard taxonomic works recognise this as just a regional variety.

Distribution

The Common Dolphin is widely distributed in temperate, sub-tropical and tropical waters throughout the world in a band roughly spanning 40 degrees south to 50 degrees north. The variation in make-up described above from one population to the next suggested little interaction between distinct groups The species typically prefer enclose bodies of water such as the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Deep off-shore waters and to a lesser extent over continental shelves are preferred to shallow waters. Some populations may be present all year round, others appear to move in a migratory pattern. Preferred surface water temperature is 10-28 degrees Celsius. The total population is unknown but numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Conshelf II in the Red Sea (Sudan) The Red Sea (Arabic البحر الأحمر Baḥr al-Aḥmar, al-Baḥru l-’Aḥmar; Hebrew ים סוף Yam Suf) is a gulf or basin of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. ... The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ...

Behaviour

Common Dolphins travel in groups of around 10-50 in number and frequently gather into schools numbering 100 to 2000 individuals. These schools are generally very active - groups often surface, jump and splash together. Typical behaviour includes breaching, tail-slapping, chin-slapping and porpoising.

Common Dolphins have been seen to mix with other cetaceans such as other dolphins in the Yellowfin tuna grounds of the eastern Pacific and also schools of Pilot Whales. An intriguing theory suggests that dolphins 'bow-riding' on very large whales was the origin of bow-riding on boats. Suborders Mysticeti Odontoceti (see text) The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... Binomial name Thunnus albacares The yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) is a type of tuna eaten as food. ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ... Binomial name Globicephala macrorhynchus Short-finned Pilot Whale range Binomial name Globicephala melas Long-finned Pilot Whale range A Pilot Whale is one of two species of cetacean in the genus Globicephala. ...

The gestation period is about eleven months and the calving period is between one and three years. Sexual maturation occurs at five years and longevity is twenty to twenty-five years. These figures are subject to large variation across different populations.

Conservation

Common Dolphins face a mixture of threats due to human influence. Populations have been hunted off the coast of Peru for use as food and shark bait. In most other areas the Dolphins have not been hunted directly. Several thousand individuals have been caught in industrial trawler nets throughout their range. Common Dolphins were abudant in the western Mediterranean Sea until the 1960s but occurrences there have tailed off rapidly there. The reasons are not well understood but are believed to be due to extensive human activity in the area. Orders see article text below Sharks are a group (superorder Selachimorpha) of fish, with a full cartilaginous skeleton, a streamlined body plan with between 5 and 7 gill slits along the sides (most often) or side of the head (the first modified slit is behind the eye and called a...

References

1. Rice, Dale W. (1998). Marine mammals of the world: systematics and distribution. Society of Marine Mammalogy Special Publication Number 4. 231 pp.
2. National Audobon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World ISBN 0375411410
3. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals ISBN 0125513402
4. Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises, Mark Carwardine, ISBN 0751327816