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Photo: Jeanne Hyde / Maya\'s Westside Whale Charters Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Image 2 of 7 Pacific white-sided dolphins surface near Victoria, British Columbia. Pacific white-sided dolphins surface near Victoria, British Columbia. Photo: Capt. James Mead Maya / Maya\'s Westside Whale Charters Image 3 of 7 Pacific white-sided dolphin surfaces near Victoria, British Columbia. Pacific white-sided dolphin surfaces near Victoria, British Columbia. Photo: Capt. Dale Mitchell / Eagle Wing Tours Image 4 of 7 Pacific white-sided dolphin breaches near Victoria, British Columbia. Pacific white-sided dolphin breaches near Victoria, British Columbia. Photo: Peter Zelen / Eagle Wing Tours Image 5 of 7 Image 6 of 7 Pacific white-sided dolphins surfacing near Victoria, British Columbia. Pacific white-sided dolphins surfacing near Victoria, British Columbia. Photo: Peter Zelen / Eagle Wing Tours Image 7 of 7 Salish Sea sees return of Pacific white-sided dolphins 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

It’s been decades since whale watchers have seen Pacific white-sided dolphins in the Salish Sea and now the marine mammals are surfacing in massive pods.

The dolphins, known as “lags,” aren’t endangered like local orcas, but they haven’t appeared in the Puget Sound or its surrounding straits for ages, according to the Pacific Whale Watch Association.

The lags have surfaced in regional waters in pods of up to 150 dolphins or more, dazzling whale watchers, captains and naturalists. The dolphins are showing up near Victoria, British Columbia.

“Lately it’s been crazy with lags,” said Michael Harris, executive director of PWWA. “And when these guys turn up, they really put on a show. The entire ocean seems to explode with life.”

The average adult Pacific white-sided dolphin weighs between 300 and 400 pounds, measures between 5 1/2 and 8 feet long and can live for more than 40 years. They have unusually large, curved dorsal fins and unique coloring: Their backs, flukes and lips are black, their bellies are white and their sides and fins gray. On both sides of the dorsal fin they feature a white or light gray stripe, extending from eyes to tail.

“I’ve run over 2,000 whale watching tours and I’ve never seen anything like this group of lags,” said Shane Aggergaard of Island Adventures Whale Watching of Everett, Anacortes and Port Angeles. “White-sided dolphins are some of the most exciting animals in any ocean.”

Check out some these dolphins in action with these videos provided to us by PWWA. The first is by naturalist Dylan Iverson of Eagle Wing Tours and the second is by naturalist Jeanne Hyde of Maya’s Westside Whale Charters.

While we’re on the topic of majestic sea critters, let us recall this recent orca birth: