Dolphins also ride these waves on large whales and appear to have substituted ships for whales . Holding their flukes down in a precise position to get the maximum push, dolphins take advantage of a free ride while the ship is going their way. If you look back, the dolphins appear suspended motionless inside the wave. Bottlenose dolphins are social animals and even cooperate when feeding. In many places coastal bottlenose dolphins eat small schooling fish called mullet which they herd into shallow water, using the shore as a barrier.
Humans also feed on mullet which they catch in nets along the shore.
In several places in Australia, Africa and Brazil, dolphins and humans appear to cooperate, trapping the mullet between them, though humans are probably just taking advantage of dolphin fishing tactics. There are a number of cases in which an individual or a group of dolphins routinely interacts with humans over many years. At Shark Bay in Australia an entire tourist industry has developed to serve the 150,000 people who come each year to swim with a friendly group of bottlenose dolphins. People worry that the pollution caused by the tourists is endangering the dolphins. A few wild dolphins are not so gentle and have pushed swimmers out to sea and smashed surf boards.