The Pacific White-Sided Dolphin falls into the scientific class of mammalia. Its scientific genus is Lagenorhynchus and its species is obliquidens.

 This animal tends to be about 2-3 meters long and can weigh up to about 300 pounds (150 kg). This dolphin has three tones of color on itself which helps it blend in with its surroundings. Its creamy white chin, throat, and stomach make it look like the sun from underneath the dolphin. Its beak, flippers, back, and dorsal fin are a dark gray which looks like the ocean floor from above. There is also a long gray stripe on each side of the dolphin. The dolphin's body is covered with small little hairs (which categorizes it with mammals) and its skin has a rubbery feel to it. It is endothermic which means it is a warm-blooded animal. Here are some other interesting facts about the Pacific White-Sided dolphin.                                                

• This dolphin is found in the North Pacific Ocean where it loves the cool temperate waters.                               

• The Pacific White-Sided dolphin has fins and flippers(flukes) as opposed to legs and a torpedo-like torso which makes it easy for it to swim and live in the water.

• It has a blowhole on the top of its head that it breathes through, since dolphins don't have gills like a fish.

                       What does it eat?

• The Pacific White-Sided dolphin eats a variety of squid, herring, anchovies, and lantern fish, making it a carnivore.

                            Food Chain

• They use echolocation to capture their food

• Echolocation is where animals send out calls to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return after bouncing off an object

   Symbiotic Relationships

• The dolphin and the remora share a commensalistic symbiotic relationship.

• The remora is protected from enemies by the dolphin and also may get food, as it feeds on the remains of the dolphins' prey.

• This dolphin is related to various types of whales and porpoises

                                                                         whale                  porpoise

               Fun Facts

•  The Pacific White-Sided dolphin will sometimes

     jump out of the water in the wild for fun or when some fish are near

• This dolphin will also swim alongside boats because they

     like to splash around in the waves

• This animal is not endangered and is doing fine on the animal watch list

• The dolphin's offspring are called calves and they travel in groups called pods

• Dolphins have strong tails which they use as a defense in case a predator is near

    sources

• Killer Whales and Other Toothed Whales (book); By: Julie A. Fenton; copyright is 2001; pgs. used: 11, 34, 44-48

• http://www.acsonline.org/factpack/pacwhitesided.htm

• http.//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_White-Sided_Dolphin

By: Maddie Ebert

     Here are a few more pictures of the Pacific White-sided dolphin