Pacific white-sided dolphin
Lagenorhynchus obliquidens
Pacific white-sided dolphins sweep into SoCal waters from the open North Pacific each winter in herds of hundreds — occasionally topping 2,000 animals — often mixing with common dolphins and riding the bow waves of whale-watching boats in tandem. A bold pale stripe running from eye to tail and chartreuse "suspender" patches on the flanks make them easy to identify even mid-leap.
Scale
About 1.1× as long as an average adult is tall.
A pacific white-sided dolphin runs about 6.5 ft. Drawn beside an average adult human — 5.7 ft standing, the CDC's own U.S. adult average.
Average adult human: 5.7 ft (5 ft 7 in), CDC NHANES U.S. adult average standing height.
Drawn to the same scale. 6.5 ÷ 5.7 ≈ 1.1.
Why that rarity label
The best available abundance estimate for this stock is roughly 35,000 animals (34,999, Becker et al. 2020), and NOAA reports no long-term trend in that number. Sightings vary a lot season to season and year to year, but the wider population is not known to be declining.NOAA Pacific White-sided Dolphin SAR, rev. 3/14/2022 source →