Video: Hundreds Of Dolphins Leap Out Of The Water In Massive Stampede�?��?��?�

Roughly 500 common dolphins were seen jumping out of the waters along Orange County in a video filmed on a sightseeing boat.

The impressive and rare spectacle—referred to as a dolphin stampede—was spotted off the coast of Dana Point by a group on Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Safari, and filmed by the tour company owner Dave Anderson, according to the O.C. Register. The stampede was seen roughly three miles off the shore. The leaping, known as porpoising, is the fastest way for the dolphins to travel, enabling them to reach speeds up to 17 knots, just shy of 20 mph.

“It was a good-sized pod. They were just swimming and all of a sudden took off,” Anderson, who estimated the number around 500, told the Register. “When they take off like this, it’s like someone fired a gun. They go from swimming along peacefully to like they are in a race to see how fast they can go.”

The last time Anderson saw a dolphin stampede this size was two years ago, while last year he saw a smaller one.

"I would say stampedes are one of those most amazing things I’ve seen in 20 years of whale watching," Anderson tells the L.A. Times. "It’s completely exhilarating."

Southern California is considered to have the highest concentration of dolphins per square mile of anywhere on the planet, including 450,000 common dolphins, according to the Register. Large mega-pods with up to 10,000 dolphins have been spotted off the coast of Dana Point in the past.