| Breach (leap out of the water) | Breaching | Humpback whale, killer whale, common bottlenose dolphin, right whale, fin whale | Spectacular leap in which all or part of the body leaves the water before falling back noisily. |
| Lobtail (tail slap) | Tail | Humpback whale, blue whale, right whale, killer whale | The animal raises its tail fluke (flukes) and slams it hard against the surface. |
| Flipper slap (pectoral fin slap) | Flippers | Humpback whale (the longest flippers in the animal kingdom: 4-5 m) | Lying on its side, the animal slaps its flipper against the water. |
| Peduncle slap (tail stock slap) | Tail | Humpback whale (fights between males) | Violent movement of the caudal peduncle and the tail against the surface. |
| Spyhop | Observation | Killer whale, grey whale, sperm whale, humpback whale | The animal lifts its head vertically out of the water, eye at surface level, and looks around. |
| Logging (passive floating) | Resting | Sperm whale (vertical logging), humpback whale, common dolphin | The animal floats at the surface, motionless, like a log, usually with part of the blowhole above water. |
| Bow-riding (riding the bow wave) | Play | Common bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Stenella dolphins, Dall's porpoise (the fastest) | The animal positions itself in front of a boat or a large whale and surfs the bow wave. |
| Wake-riding (surfing the wake) | Play | Common bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, killer whale | Surfing on the waves generated behind a boat (its wake). |
| Milling (turning at the surface) | Social | Sperm whale, pilot whale, killer whale | Several individuals swim slowly in a circle at the surface, with no apparent direction. |
| Fluking (raising the tail fluke) | Diving | Humpback whale, blue whale, sperm whale, right whale | The animal lifts its tail fluke high above the surface before a deep dive. |
| Bubble net feeding | Feeding | Humpback whale (Alaska, Antarctic, Gulf of Maine) | One or more whales circle beneath a shoal of fish while releasing a rising net of bubbles. The panicked fish pack together in the centre. |
| Strand feeding | Feeding | Common bottlenose dolphin (South Carolina, USA), killer whale (Punta Norte, Argentina, to hunt sea lions) | The animal deliberately strands on a mud bank to catch fish trapped there. |
| Wave hunting (wave washing) | Feeding | Antarctic Type B killer whales (pack ice killer whales) | Several killer whales swim in parallel formation to generate a coordinated wave that sweeps a seal off its iceberg. |
| Sponging | Tools | Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins of Shark Bay (Australia) | The dolphin fits a marine sponge over its rostrum as protection while probing the seabed. |
| Porpoising | Locomotion | Common dolphin, Stenella dolphins, Dall's porpoise, Lagenorhynchus dolphins | Rapid, low leaps out of the water at high speed, without reaching any spectacular height. |
| Unihemispheric sleep | Resting | All cetacean species | The animal sleeps with one brain hemisphere at a time, the other staying awake to breathe and keep watch. |
| Beach rubbing (rubbing on the beach) | Social | Northern Resident killer whales (British Columbia) | Killer whales deliberately rub themselves on pebble beaches in shallow water. |
| Tail-walking (walking on the tail) | Play | Common bottlenose dolphins (Adelaide, Australia) | The dolphin rises vertically out of the water, beating its tail rapidly to move forward. |
| Bubble trail (trail of bubbles) | Social | Humpback whale, common bottlenose dolphin | The animal releases a series of air bubbles during social interactions. |
| Breaching charge (aggressive charge) | Social | Humpback whale (tropical breeding season) | A male humpback whale charges another at full speed, breaches or peduncle slaps to defend a female. |
