A dolphin and a fish are not the same.     
             
                     A dolphin is not a fish.
Dolphins are from an order of  mammals that lived on land millions of years ago. Though they seem like fish, dolphins share many of the characteristics of other mammals.




Most dolphins have only one fin on top of their bodies-some dolphins have none.

Fish, on the other hand, have more than one fin, and some even have four. The fins at the top are called dorsal fins.


            
              They do not look the same.

            
              They do not feel the same.
Fish are covered with thin, hard overlapping scales that protect their soft bodies. The way the small scales overlap allows for movement so that the fish can swim.

Dolphins are covered with smooth and delicate skin.  They have a strong sense of touch and like to rub against pebbles close to the beach  or be touched even by humans.


Both, fish and dolphins, need oxygen to live.Fish get oxygen from the water that flows through their gills.

Dolphins come up to the surface of  the water and breathe air through  the blowhole. The blowhole is similar to our nostrils. They have lungs like other mammals and get the oxygen they need from air.



          
           They do not breath the same.
             
           They do not swim the same.
Dolphins move through the water very differently from fish. Fish move their heads from side to side, causing a wavy movement that pushes the fish through the water.

The dolphin's  tail is horizontal. Powerful muscles located in the back half of its body move the tail up and down in the water, propelling the dolphin forward.


Fish lay eggs, many at once. Most often, when the eggs hatch, the baby fish are on their own right away.

Dolphin babies are born one at a time, live from the mother dolphin's body.The baby dolphin drinks milk from its mother just as other mammals do. The young dolphin stays with the mother for a long time, growing up and learning how to live on its own.
                 
    They do not have babies the same way.

                                    
           But they live in the same ocean.

One way that dolphins and fish are alike is that both live in the water. Most live in the salwater of the great oceans, but many species of fish and some species of  dolphin live in freshwater.

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