How to ride a dolphin in Minecraft

Attacking a dolphin will cause that dolphin and nearby dolphins to attack you. Be careful where you swing. Dolphins will follow the player and grant them a speed boost if the player is sprinting in the water.

Dolphins jumping in water.

Dolphins normally swim in pods, occasionally leaping out of the water to get air. They are also able to jump from one body of water to another. Additionally, they chase after players in boats.

Players who sprint swim within a 9 block spherical radius of a dolphin receive Dolphin's Grace for 5 seconds‌[Java Edition only]. Players with Invisibility do not receive the effect unless they already had Dolphin's Grace before receiving Invisibility, or if they are wearing armor. In Bedrock Edition, the player simply gets a swimming speed boost without a status effect.

Dolphins are lured by dropped items that are inside nearby water blocks, knocking them around and chasing them.‌[Java Edition only] If the dolphin can not find a path to a dropped item, the dolphin may stay underwater to the point of drowning.[1] If the dolphin is in, or on, a waterlogged bottom slab or chest with an air block above, the dolphin is prevented from drowning.

Should the player or another mob hit a dolphin (unless the dolphin is killed within one hit‌[Java Edition only]), the whole pod retaliates, attacking all at once similar to wolves and zombified piglins. Hostile dolphins remain hostile even if they are fed fish.

Feeding dolphins raw cod or raw salmon improves their "trust" and interactions with the player, depending on the amount of fish fed.

When dolphins are fed raw cod or raw salmon, they swim to the nearest shipwreck, buried treasure, or ocean ruins. Because they are locating the chest in the structures rather than the structures themselves, breaking the chests causes the dolphin to locate a new structure with intact chests. Dolphins also avoid guardians and elder guardians.

Weaknesses[]

If a dolphin leaves the water in dry weather, it starts taking suffocation damage after two minutes, and eventually dies. It takes no damage out of water during rain. Regardless of weather, a dolphin on land actively seeks out a body of water, or seeks its target if in a hostile state.

They cannot survive without getting air every once in a while, so if they stay submerged for about four minutes they begin drowning. The water breathing effect prevents them from drowning.

Dolphins cannot ride boats, similarly to squid and all types of fish.

Dolphins can be towed by a lead.

Because the dolphin is an aquatic mob, they are affected by the Impaling enchantment.‌[Java Edition only]

Sounds[]

Java Edition:
Dolphins use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

1. ↑ Except entity.dolphin.ambient_water0 and entity.dolphin.ambient_water1, which are 0.8, and entity.dolphin.ambient_water2 and entity.dolphin.ambient_water3, which are 0.75
2. ↑ Depends on the dolphin's motion, usually around 0.1 or 0.02.
3. ↑ Depends on the dolphin's motion, usually around 0.03

Bedrock Edition:

Achievements[]

Advancements[]

• Absorption
• Bad Omen
• Blindness
• Conduit Power
• Darkness
• Dolphin's Grace
• Fire Resistance
• Glowing
• Haste
• Hero of the Village
• Hunger
• Invisibility
• Jump Boost
• Levitation
• Mining Fatigue
• Nausea
• Night Vision
• Poison
• Regeneration
• Resistance
• Slow Falling
• Slowness
• Speed
• Strength
• Water Breathing
• Weakness
• Wither

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Entity data[]

Dolphins have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.

Java Edition:

Main article: Entity format

• Entity data
  • Tags common to all entities
  • Tags common to all mobs
  •  CanFindTreasure: 1 or 0 (true/false) - if true, this dolphin can lead a player to treasure.
  •  GotFish: 1 or 0 (true/false) - if true, this dolphin got fish from a player.
  •  TreasurePosX: This dolphin's X coordinate destination when leading a player to treasure, 0 if entity.dolphin.eat1 is false.
  •  TreasurePosY: This dolphin's Y coordinate destination when leading a player to treasure, 0 if entity.dolphin.eat1 is false.
  •  TreasurePosZ: This dolphin's Z coordinate destination when leading a player to treasure, 0 if entity.dolphin.eat1 is false.

Bedrock Edition:

History[]

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Dolphin" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Trivia[]

• To create the sounds that the dolphins make in the game, Mojang Studios' lead sound designer, Samuel Åberg, went to Kolmården Wildlife Park to record real dolphins.[6]
  • This was also done with pandas.
• Dolphins originally had a separate head and body when shown in a clip at MINECON 2017. It is also shown in artwork for Java Edition 1.13.
• Real-life dolphins don't suffocate outside of water; they breathe air like all mammals, although they can die of dehydration out of water.
• In 2018, a mob vote was held in which Chinese users could vote on which Chinese animal should be added to Minecraft, to promote the release of Minecraft China. One of the options for voting was the possibly extinct Baiji Dolphin. The Panda won the vote and was added into the game.[7]
• During development, there were large disagreements between developers over how Dolphins should behave.[8]
• Mojang specifically stated that they will not consider allowing dolphins to be tamed or riden.[9]
  • They also decided against adding behaviors that deviate significantly from real-life dolphins, such as fleeing from drowned.[10]

Gallery[]

• 

  A pod of dolphins.

• 

  A dolphin taking damage because it is not in water.

• 

  2 dolphins leaping above the ocean at sunset.

• 

  4 dolphins swimming above an ocean ravine and a coral reef.

• 

  Dolphins chasing after a raw cod item.

• 

  A Dolphin seen underwater.

• 

  Several dolphins attacking the player, after the player hit one of them.

• 

  Dolphins swimming with the player.

In other media[]

• 

  Dolphins in promotional artwork for the Update Aquatic.

• 

  Official dolphin artwork.

• 

  Dolphin in official artwork.

• 

  Lego Minecraft Dolphin.

References[]

1. ↑ MC-221510
2. ↑ a b c MCPE-53297
3. ↑ MC-128681
4. ↑ MC-128493
5. ↑ MC-128241
6. ↑ "Talking Dolphins" – Minecraft.net, May 19, 2018
7. ↑ https://mc.163.com/pe/client/activity/voteforanimalpc/
8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEIj2Nob234
9. ↑ "No taming and riding dolphins." – Minecraft Feedback, May 7, 2020.
10. ↑ "Dolphin effects that are very far out of character for these creatures (example: fleeing from drowned)." – Minecraft Feedback, May 7, 2020.

    Can you tame and ride dolphins in Minecraft?

    While the thought of taming a dolphin sounds exciting, players will be sad to know that dolphins can't be tamed in Minecraft. Players can't ride them either. While players can feed them raw cod, they cannot tame them.

    How do you transport dolphins in Minecraft bedrock?

    You can use a lead to transport dolphin to the area of your choice, use nametag to name the animal (to prevent despawning) and build a wall around the area you want to keep the dolphin in. Might want to make it 3–4 blocks above the sea level, because dolphins can jump above the water.