The species is typically sighted over the continental shelf and slope (100–300m depth) waters but is also encountered in deeper waters (around areas of high bottom-relief or submarine canyons) or closer to the coast (Evans and Smeenk, 2008). Often found in large groups between 1 and 500 individuals with groups as large as 2500 recorded (Weinrich et al. 2001, Cipriano, 2009). Group structure is thought to be fluid and not based on relationship between either male or female members (Mirimin et al. 2011, Pugliares‐Bonner et al. 2021).

White-sided Ddolphins are known to feed on a range of different prey species throughout their range including Whiting (Merlangius merlangus), Mackerel (Scomber scombrus), Herring (Clupea harengus), and cephalopods (Hernandez-Milian et al. 2015). The species has been observed feeding in mixed species groups with both baleen and toothed whale species including Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), and Pilot Whale (Globicephala melas), and Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and White-beaked Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris).

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins are endemic to the cold temperate and sub-polar waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, occupying waters from Greenland to Cape Cod, US, in the west and from Svalbard to Britany in the east. Within European waters, the species is found in the North Sea, Celtic Sea, Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea with relatively high densities in the Atlantic waters between Iceland and the British Isles and Ireland (Waggitt et al. 2020).

The species is listed in Appendix II of CITES as well as in Appendix II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). After an unusually large take during the Faroes drive hunt (1,428 individuals) in 2021, the Faroes government has set catch limits of the species to 500.