L. borealis Peale, 1848 L. peronii Lacépède, 1804 Right whale dolphins are cetaceans belonging to the genus Lissodelphis.

The two species can be readily distinguished (apart from the geographical separation in their ranges) by the extent of the whiteness on the body.

The northern right whale dolphin is widely distributed in the temperate North Pacific in a band running from Kamchatka and mainland Japan in the west to British Columbia down to the Baja California Peninsula in the east.

However, individuals have been observed close to the Californian shore following their main food source, squid, in winter and spring.

At high speed they can leap up to 7 metres across the ocean's surface in a graceful bouncing motion.

On 9 June 2018, a 5.5-foot female was found deceased on Manzanita Beach on the coast of Oregon.

There has been one recorded instance of 77 southern right whale dolphins stranding on Chatham Island.

However, tens of thousands of the northern species were killed in the 1980s due to their becoming caught in oceanic drift gillnets introduced at that time.