Common dolphinfish
Coryphaena hippurus
- Usual depth14–210 m
- Water temperature11–29 °C
- Best monthsMay, June, and July
- How commonCommon
Photo credit: (c) Uma Mezzanotte, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The mahi-mahi, common dolphinfish, dolphinfish, dolphin or dorado is a surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore temperate, tropical, and subtropical waters worldwide. It is one of two members of the family Coryphaenidae, the other being the pompano dolphinfish. These fish are most commonly found in the waters around the Gulf of Mexico, Costa Rica, Hawaii, and the Indian Ocean. In Italy it is called corifena, lampuga or pesce capone, and has even given its name to the caponata though eggplant has now taken the place of the fish.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Mahi-mahi”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 1,548 records
- February: 1,443 records
- March: 1,357 records
- April: 1,615 records
- May: 2,912 records
- June: 3,107 records
- July: 3,009 records
- August: 2,446 records
- September: 1,656 records
- October: 1,152 records
- November: 890 records
- December: 990 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 14–210 m · Deepest record: 1,700 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 11–29 °C
Photos
(c) Cricket Raspet, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Karim Haddad, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Yoshihiro Tokue, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Yi-Kai Tea, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) Kai Murphy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ryan Watson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Common dolphinfish, Common dolphin-fish, Dolphin, Dolphinfish, Mahi mahi, Common Dolphifish, Common Dolphin, common dolphinfish, Common Dolphinfish, Common Dolphin Fish, Common dolphinfish, Dolphinfish, dolphin, dolphinfish, Dolphin Fish, Dorado, Green Dolphin, mahi mahi, Mahi-mahi, Mahimahi, Mahi Mahi
Names in 4 more languages
- German
- gemeine Goldmakrele, Goldmakrele, grosse Goldmakrele, Große Goldmakrele, Mahi Mahi
- Spanish
- dorado, Dorado, dorado commún, Dorado Común, Dorado Delfin, lampuga, Lampuga, Llampuga
- French
- Clic, Clic, Coryphène commune, Dauphin, Clic, Dauphin, Dorade, corphène commune, coryphène commune, Coryphène commune, cotyphène commune, Dauphin, Daurade coryphène, Dorade, Dorade Coryphène
- Japanese
- Shibr, Shiira, シイラ
Other scientific names: Coriphaena hippurus, Corypaena hippurua, Coryphaena argyrurus, Coryphaena chrysurus, Coryphaena dolfyn, Coryphaena dorado, Coryphaena fasciolata, Coryphaena hipporus, Coryphaena hyppurus, Coryphaena immaculata, Coryphaena imperialis, Coryphaena japonica, Coryphaena margravii, Coryphaena nortoniana, Coryphaena scomberoides, Coryphaena scomberoïdes, Coryphaena suerii, Coryphaena virgata, Coryphaena vlamingii, Lampugus siculus, Lepimphis hippuroides, Scomber pelagicus
Similar species
Pompano dolphinCoryphaena equiselis
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 86,373 open-data records from 1899 to 2023.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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