This species has also earned the nickname of "pothead whale" in some places because the shape of its head reminded early whalers of black cooking pots.

It has a bulbous forehead and is black or dark grey in colour with light-grey or white markings on the throat and belly regions.

Some individuals have other distinct markings such as a light coloured area behind dorsal fin, known as a saddle patch, as well as an upwards sweeping stripe just behind the eye.

The common name of this species is a reference to the pilot whale's long, sickle-shaped pectoral flippers that are 18 to 27 percent of its total body length.

Long-finned pilot whales are no exception, though it was thought in the past that males had hooked dorsal fins while females did not.

[17] However, males are bigger in size, and relative fin dimensions as well as other characteristics may still be discovered to allow for distinguishing the sex of at least certain age classes for free-ranging pilot whales.

During a specific time of year, approximately December to March, these whales beach themselves in high numbers along the coast of New Zealand.

The whistles and pulsed calls that pilot whales make seem not to fall into distinct types, but rather can be arranged on a continuum.

[34] Recent studies have found that a large portion of their vocal repertoire is made up of calls produced in repeated sequences.

[36] During the deeper collective dives of groups of long-finned pilot whales, females on the right and left flanks (periphery) are found to lead most often.

[15] It seems that mating can take place at any time during the year, but it peaks in late spring/early summer for both northern and southern hemisphere populations.

[44] Among other parasites, long-finned pilot whales harbour Crassicauda carbonelli, a species of nematodes which is found exclusively in the penis.

This unnamed form was documented in historical literature and confirmed by the discovery of fossils in several locations of Japan, such as on Rebun Island and in Chiba Prefecture.

Recently, an adult female Icelandic orca was observed with a newborn pilot whale travelling alongside her in a mother-calf position, leading to speculation that the relationship between both species might be far more complex than previously suggested.

Scientists have learned a number of important things from mass strandings of long-finned pilot whales around the world.

Studies suggest that they do not always beach together in family units, as multiple matrilines can be found in a single stranding event.

[59] The North Sea and Baltic Sea populations of the long-finned pilot whale are listed on Appendix II[60] of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), since they have an unfavourable conservation status or would benefit significantly from international co-operation organised by tailored agreements.

They are generally regarded as non-commercial - though people may sell their share after the catch has been divided - and organized on a community level.

An industrial drive fishery was started in the Trinity Bay area of Newfoundland, Canada in 1947 by a Norwegian whaling captain.

Even though there are a number of other species of whales found in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and around Newfoundland, pilots are one of the more common ones sighted inshore during the summer season.

In these places, pilot whales provide valuable income for people living in rural fishing communities.

The articulated skeleton of a long-finned pilot whale, killed in the Firth of Forth in 1867, was put on display at Leeds City Museum, UK in 2019.