Dolphin

Called a sea-goose (oie de mer) from the form of its snout, termed in French bec dʹoie (a goose’s beak). The dolphin is noted for its changes of colour when taken out of the water.

“Parting day

Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues

With a new colour as it gasps away,

The last still loveliest.”

Byron: Childe Harold, canto iv. stanza 29.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.