Dolphin
neutralOurs, not the game's own: how a dolphin behaves. Bedrock v1.26.40.05 differs: spawn weight 2 on most Java biome lists (it runs from 1 to 2) against 7 on Bedrock; groups of 1 to 2 on Java against 3 to 5 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-22, and here is how we check.
Added InOverview
A Dolphin is a neutral mob: it ignores players until it is provoked, and only then turns aggressive.
Look for the Dolphin across the Overworld; it is tied to Ocean, Deep Ocean, Lukewarm Ocean, and Warm Ocean.
Its defining trait is simple: playful, jumps out of water.
With 10 HP (5 hearts) on its bar, killing one rewards 1 to 3 experience.
Players have been encountering the Dolphin since the 1.13 update.
One thing worth knowing: They lead players to the nearest shipwreck or underwater ruins when fed Raw Cod.
The Dolphin sits in a useful middle ground, harmless if you respect it, but a real threat if you provoke it, which makes reading the situation important.
Damage by Difficulty
Spawning
Dolphins spawn in Ocean, Deep Ocean, Lukewarm Ocean, and Warm Ocean.
Because it appears across 5 different biomes, it is one of the easier mobs to track down, and heading to any of them should turn one up before long.
Spawns in groups of 3-5 in non-frozen ocean biomes.
Spawns commonly come in batches of 3-5, which is worth remembering when you are deciding whether to engage or retreat.
Left alone far from any player, wild dolphins eventually despawn, so use a name tag if you want a specific one to stick around.
Since it only turns hostile when provoked, you can usually walk among dolphins safely as long as you avoid hitting one.
Where the Dolphin spawns
Deep Ocean and Ocean are where it stands strongest: weight 1 on the water creature list and 14.3% of it, arriving 1 to 2 at a time. There it shares the list with Nautilus at 5 and Squid at 1, 7 weight together, of which 1 is dolphin. It also turns up in Deep Lukewarm Ocean at 13.3%, Lukewarm Ocean at 11.8% and Warm Ocean at 11.8%.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
 Deep Ocean | 1 | 14.3% | 1 to 2 |
 Ocean | 1 | 14.3% | 1 to 2 |
 Deep Lukewarm Ocean | 2 | 13.3% | 1 to 2 |
 Lukewarm Ocean | 2 | 11.8% | 1 to 2 |
 Warm Ocean | 2 | 11.8% | 1 to 2 |
Drops
Killing a Dolphin produces the following loot:
Nothing here is guaranteed: a kill can give you 1 Raw Cod.
In terms of experience, each kill is worth 1 to 3 XP orbs.
These are well worth keeping. They lead players to the nearest shipwreck or underwater ruins when fed Raw Cod.
With nothing guaranteed, output is swingy: over many kills the averages hold, but any single Dolphin may give you little, so farm in volume rather than expecting a jackpot each time.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw Cod | 0 to 1 | not every kill | Looting III up to 4, cooked when burnt |
It is not the only source of Raw Cod: the cod drops 1, the polar bear 0 to 2, the guardian 1 and the elder guardian the same.
Dolphin attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
 Movement speed | 1.2 |
 Size | 0.9 x 0.6 blocks |
 Eye height | 0.3 blocks |
 Follow range | 16 blocks |
 Health | 10 points |
 Experience | 1 to 3 |
 Attack damage attribute | 3 |
The Dolphin does not stand alone on these numbers: the zombie nautilus at 1.1 movement speed, the nearest we list to its 1.2.
Dolphin: 0.99% of its category, rank 33 of 52
On 5 of the 66 biome lists (5 spawn entries in total), and 0.99% of every spawn the game puts in its water creature group is a dolphin.
The ranges Minecraft Java 26.2 rolls for a dolphin give 0.5 Raw Cod per kill, so 64 Raw Cod costs 128 kills before Looting.
| Item | Average per kill |
|---|---|
 Raw Cod | 0.5 |
How this average is worked out
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 Raw Cod |
|---|---|---|---|
 golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 3 | 384 |
 stone sword | 5 | 2 | 256 |
| iron sword | 6 | 2 | 256 |
 diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 2 | 256 |
 netherite sword | 8 | 2 | 256 |
 diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 2 | 256 |
 netherite axe | 10 | 1 | 128 |
Turned around, 7 unblocked dolphin hits empty a player's 20 health, 15% of the bar at a time, which is what the dolphin's 3 damage on Normal buys it. On Easy the same dolphin hit is 10%, on Hard 20%, so 10 hits against 5.
Behavior & Combat
In the field, playful, jumps out of water. Grants Dolphin's Grace speed boost to swimming players. Leads players to treasure if fed raw cod.
At 1.2 it is the highest of any mob in the game for speed, just above the zombie nautilus at 1.1.
It can hit you for 2 on Easy, 3 on Normal and 4 on Hard, while its own 10 health (5 hearts) determines how many blows it takes to kill.
When fighting back, remember it is weak to Suffocation on land and Drowning (needs both air and water).
The Dolphin cannot be bred, so the only way to get more is to find them spawning naturally in their home biomes.
It is a water-dwelling creature and will suffocate if it ends up on dry land, so keeping it in water is essential if you want to transport or keep one.
As long as you avoid landing the first blow, you can usually go about your business near a Dolphin without trouble.
Dolphin commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /summon minecraft:dolphin | Puts a dolphin on the block you are standing on. |
| /give @p minecraft:dolphin_spawn_egg | Hands you the dolphin spawn egg, so you can place dolphins where you want them. |
| /kill @e[type=minecraft:dolphin] | Removes every dolphin that is loaded around you. |
Entity id minecraft:dolphin, spawn egg minecraft:dolphin_spawn_egg.
Dolphin farm
A dolphin farm copies the rule the game already uses for dolphin spawns. Spawns in groups of 3-5 in non-frozen ocean biomes.
Of the 5 biome spawn lists the dolphin stands on, Deep Ocean gives the dolphin its largest share at 14.3%, so a dolphin platform there fills faster than the same build anywhere else.
1 to 2 dolphins arrive per roll, so give the dolphin platform width instead of stacking it.
Each kill is worth 1 to 3 experience and up to 1 raw cod, or 4 with Looting III, which is the number to scale the dolphin farm against.
Dolphin version history
The dolphin was added in Minecraft 1.13, which came out on 18 July 2018, so the dolphin has been in the game for 8 years.
7 other mobs here came with it: the turtle, the cod, the salmon, the tropical fish, the pufferfish, the phantom and the drowned. Of the 88 mobs we list, 47 were in the game before the dolphin and 33 arrived after it.
All of the dolphin data above is taken from Java 26.2, so it describes the dolphin as it is today.
What Dolphin sounds like
Turn subtitles on and every dolphin sound names itself in the corner of the screen. These are the 10 lines a dolphin can put there, and you can play any of them yourself with /playsound minecraft:entity.dolphin.ambient master @p.
| Sound | What you hear |
|---|---|
| entity.dolphin.ambient |  Dolphin chirps |
| entity.dolphin.hurt | Dolphin hurts |
| entity.dolphin.death | Dolphin dies |
| entity.dolphin.attack | Dolphin attacks |
| entity.dolphin.ambient_water | Dolphin whistles |
| entity.dolphin.eat | Dolphin eats |
| entity.dolphin.jump | Dolphin jumps |
| entity.dolphin.play | Dolphin plays |
| entity.dolphin.splash | Dolphin splashes |
| entity.dolphin.swim | Dolphin swims |
