A small whale with a bulging forehead and relatively short flippers, found in warm seas.
Its body is black to dark grayish brown, with a gray patch behind the dorsal fin.
A daytime study of six short-finned pilot whales off Madeira used suction-cup recorders attached for an average of about two and a half hours. The whales spent a mean 76.3% of that time at the surface and made about 6.8 dives per hour. Yet the deepest dive reached 988 m. Long surface periods and a very deep dive can occur in one small sample.
Dives deeper than 500 m came from both resident and transient whales; the authors suggested these may involve foraging. These are brief daytime records from six adults, not a full-day profile for every population. Reading the maximum depth alongside the sample and recording time brings both the striking dive and ordinary surface time into view.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species-level assessment
The IUCN global assessment lists the Short-finned Pilot Whale as Least Concern (LC), assessed on 18 June 2018, with global population trend Unknown. The Convention on Migratory Species’ Pacific Islands cetacean species account reports the same global category and unknown trend. The global category and trend are distinct assessment fields; regional abundance requires local evidence.