The Killer Whale Is the Largest Dolphin

The name is misleading. NOAA Fisheries states that the killer whale, also known as the orca, is the largest member of the Delphinidae family, or dolphins. That family includes all dolphin species, along with some larger animals whose common names also contain the word whale instead of dolphin. NOAA gives long-finned and short-finned pilot whales as examples. So the killer whale is, by family, a dolphin with whale in its name. NOAA also describes it as the ocean’s top predator. Killer whales are found in every ocean in the world, and NOAA calls them the most widely distributed of all cetaceans, the group that takes in whales and dolphins. Scientific studies have identified many different populations around the world.