Melon-headed whale
Peponocephala electra (Gray, 1846)
LCLeast Concernwhales and dolphins
The melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra) is a species in the family Delphinidae, order Cetacea. Recorded adults weigh about 206 kg and live up to 47 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the melon-headed whale
- Weight
- 206 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 47 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Piscivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 365 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 6.75 years – 11.6 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Marinesrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the melon-headed whale live?
Not recorded
What is the melon-headed whale?
The melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra), also known less commonly as the electra dolphin, little killer whale, or many-toothed blackfish, is a toothed whale of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). The common name is derived from the head shape. Melon-headed whales are widely distributed throughout deep tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, but they are rarely encountered at sea. They are found near shore mostly around oceanic islands, such as Hawaii, French Polynesia, and the Philippines.
From the Wikipedia article “Melon-headed whale” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melon-headed_whale&oldid=1357211857), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the melon-headed whale endangered?
The melon-headed whale is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the melon-headed whale classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderCetacea
- familyDelphinidae
- genusPeponocephala
- SpeciesPeponocephala electra (Gray, 1846)
Synonyms Delphinus fusiformis, Delphinus pectoralis, Electra asia, Electra electra, Electra electra, Electra fusiformis, Electra obtusa, Lagenorhynchus asia, Lagenorhynchus electra, Lagenorhynchus pectoralis, Lagenorhynchus pectoralis, Phocaena pectoralis
Other names and names in other languages (63)
- BlackfishEnglish
- Electra dolphinEnglish
- Hawaiian blackfishEnglish
- Indian broad-beaked dolphinEnglish
- Many-toothed blackfishEnglish
- Many-toothed blackfishEnglish
- Melon headed whaleEnglish
- Melon whaleEnglish
- Melon-headed blackfishEnglish
- Melon-headed dolphinEnglish
- bolkopdolfynAfrikaans
- حوت بطيخي الرأسArabic
- elektra tmaváCzech
- morfil pen pwmpenWelsh
- Morfilod Pen PwmpenWelsh
- BreitschnabeldelfinGerman
- BreitschnabeldelphinGerman
- Πεπονοκέφαλο δελφίνιGreek
- ElectraSpanish
- ballena melonSpanish
- CalderónSpanish
- calderon pequenoSpanish
- Calderón pequeñoSpanish
- delfín cabeza de melónSpanish
- Delfín de cabeza de melónSpanish
- tonina negraSpanish
- melonipäävalasFinnish
- péponocéphaleFrench
- Dauphin d'ElectreFrench
- Dauphin d'électreFrench
- לווייתן דלוע-ראשHebrew
- Fehérajkú kardszárnyúdelfinHungarian
- temu kebonIndonesian
- Paus Kepala MelonIndonesian
- paus pemangsa kecilIndonesian
- peponocefaloItalian
- balena dalla testa di meloneItalian
- カズハゴンドウJapanese
- kazuha gondo kujiraJapanese
- goyang-i-goraeKorean
- 고양이고래Korean
- pūstagalvis delfinasLithuanian
- MelonhodedelfinNorwegian Bokmål
- witlipgriendDutch
- WitlipdolfijnDutch
- melonogłów elektraPolish
- melonogłów wielozębnyPolish
- golfinho cabeça de melãoPortuguese
- Golfinho-cabeça-de-melãoPortuguese
- Бесклювый дельфинRussian
- shirokoklyuvyi delfinRussian
- Melonhuvad valSwedish
- วาฬหัวแตงโมThai
- plaloma hua klomThai
- plaloma hua taengmoThai
- elektra balinasıTurkish
- дельфінUkrainian
- БесклювийUkrainian
- широкопикийUkrainian
- Дельфін бездзьобийUkrainian
- бездзьобий дельфінUkrainian
- 瓜头鲸Chinese
- 瓜頭鯨Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the melon-headed whale
Other species in the same family Delphinidae.
Orca
Orcinus orca
Common bottlenose dolphin
Tursiops truncatus
Common dolphin
Delphinus delphis
Risso's dolphin
Grampus griseus
Irrawaddy dolphin
Orcaella brevirostris
Striped dolphin
Stenella coeruleoalba
CompareMelon-headed whale vs OrcaMelon-headed whale vs Common bottlenose dolphinMelon-headed whale vs Common dolphinMelon-headed whale vs Risso's dolphin
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the melon-headed whale?
An adult melon-headed whale weighs 206 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the melon-headed whale endangered?
The melon-headed whale is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the melon-headed whale live?
The melon-headed whale has a recorded lifespan of 47 years.
How long is the melon-headed whale pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 365 days.
What kind of animal is the melon-headed whale?
The melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra) belongs to the family Delphinidae in the order Cetacea.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/melon-headed-whale
“Melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/melon-headed-whale.
@misc{melon_headed_whale_2026,
title = {Melon-headed whale (Peponocephala electra)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/melon-headed-whale},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}