Diet

• Animal Diversity states that common dolphin pods follow seasonal fluctuations of fish, and that they eat squid octopi, and small fish including young herring, pilchard, anchovies, nocturnal hake, sardines, small bonito and sauries. A mature dolphin eats 18 to 20 lbs of fish every day, while mother dolphins must consume more than that to support their young.
  
  

Swimming for Food

• Common dolphins can swim 5 to 7 miles an hour, and reach up to 29 miles per hour if they're chasing prey. Dolphins sometimes swim over 150 miles in 48 hours in search of fish, squid and octopi. Once the dolphins have found a school of fish, they take turns feeding from the school.
  
  

Social Feeding

• Common dolphins are social creatures, and hunt and eat in large groups that may number into the thousands. These numbers give the dolphins safety, but also make hunting expeditions more efficient and fruitful. Bottlenose and white-sided dolphins sometimes join common dolphins in hour-long hunting expeditions.
  
  

Hunting Expeditions

• Dolphins generally hover over and around a school of fish, and dive through the school to grab food. Common dolphins are unique in a different version of this behavior, where they swim under the school and drive it toward the surface for easier hunting. Dolphins always hunt cooperatively, and several individuals may surround the school of fish to contain it while others are feeding. Dolphins also jump out of the water to catch the fish as they leap to try to avoid the dolphins in the water. A dolphin's superior eye sight and cooperative hunting skills make them very difficult to avoid or outrun.
  
  

Predators

• The common dolphin's food web includes more than just what the dolphins eat. Dolphins may fall prey to sharks and orcas, especially when they're young, old or sick, but are more commonly threatened by humans, who hunt dolphins for food or catch them in fishing nets and inadvertently kill them. Japan, South America and the Azores support fisheries that specifically hunt dolphins. Human pollution through oil spills and dumping also threaten dolphins and their food sources.