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Streamlined Body
The spotted dolphin is built for speed. It has a streamlined, torpedo-shaped body starting with its slim, elongated nose, which widens to form its body and narrows to the tail. Each of its fins is curved back toward the tail to add to the streamlined shape. This body shape enables the dolphin to move quickly through the water, giving it an advantage when hunting for fish and when traveling over long distances. Once the dolphin has built up speed, it is able to jump out of the water repeatedly as it travels, which saves energy.
Fins
The pantropical spotted dolphin has a dorsal fin and two pectoral fins that have evolved from a mammal's forelegs. These fins help the dolphin steer and stop it from spinning in circles as it speeds through the water. This adaptation also gives the spotted dolphin its high level of agility. Its powerful tail helps it propel itself through the water.
Respiration
The dolphin breathes through a hole in the top of its head, which allows it to take in oxygen easily when it rises to the surface of the water. The pantropical spotted dolphin protects its lungs from taking in water with a watertight flap of skin that covers its blowhole. It contracts a muscle to open the flap and breathes out as it approaches the surface to expel any water from the entrance of its blowhole before breathing in fresh oxygen. The dolphin's respiratory system is far more efficient than a human's. It replaces 80 percent of the gases in its lungs in one breath, whereas a human is only capable of replacing 17 percent, according to SeaWorld.org.
Social Behavior
Its extremely social nature is an extremely beneficial adaptation for the spotted dolphin, which bonds closely with the other members of its group. Dolphins use teamwork to hunt schools of fish by surrounding them, while one dolphin at a time goes into the center of the school to feed. Dolphins will also help one another by swimming beneath an injured dolphin and raising it to the surface of the water so it can breathe.