What is the common name of Delphinus delphis?

The common name of Delphinus delphis is the common dolphin.

Delphinus delphis is generally called the short-beaked common dolphin, although “common dolphin” is the standard broad name. It is a medium-sized oceanic dolphin with a dark back, pale underside, and distinctive hourglass-like flank pattern, often showing yellow or gold toward the front and gray toward the rear.

The species has a particularly important taxonomic history. Scientists once commonly divided common dolphins into short-beaked and long-beaked species, but genetic and morphological research has shown that many long-beaked populations are not each other's closest relatives. They are therefore generally treated as forms, populations, or subspecies within Delphinus delphis rather than one separate long-beaked species.

The name can cause confusion with other dolphins that are locally abundant. Striped, dusky, and spinner dolphins are separate species. The common dolphin is also not the same animal as the bottlenose dolphin, which became the familiar “archetypal” dolphin through aquariums and popular media.