Harbor Porpoise

Balaenoptera musculus

Harbor Porpoise

“ A school of porpoises broke the surface of the water twenty feet from where we had sat down... ”

– Pat Conroy

Scientific Taxonomy & Character Information

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Clade: Synapsida

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Infraorder: Cetacea

Family: Phocoenidae

Genus: Phocoena

Species: Phocoena phocoena

Descendant: Phocoenidae

Named by: Carl Linnaeus

Year Published: 1758

Lifespan: 80–90+ years

Size: 1.4 to 1.9 m (4 ft 7 in to 6 ft 3 in) in length; 76 kg (168 lb) in weight

Type: 

Title: 

Pantheon: Terran/Gaian

Time Period: Miocene – Holocene (15.970 BCE–present ~ Langhian to Meghalayan)

Alignment: Docile

Threat Level: ★★

Diet: Carnivorous 🥩🐟

Elements: Water, sound

Inflicts: Muted, waterblight, soundblight

Weaknesses: Fire, leaf, electric, light, dark, fae

Casualties: n/a

Based On: itself

Conservation Status: 

The harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers.

Etymology

Coming soon.

Physical Appearance

This porpoise often ventures up rivers and has been seen hundreds of kilometers from the sea. The harbour porpoise may be polytypic, with geographically distinct populations representing distinct races. The body of a harbour porpoise is compact and strong, with a short, blunt snout and a medium-sized triangular dorsal fin. Their backs are dark gray, with softer, intermediate gray tones on their sides. Their stomach and throat are white, and they have a dark gray chin patch. Females are a little bigger than males. Up to 24 years, but 10–15 is more common in most regions examined.

Abilities

Unlike most other porpoises, they do not approach boats to bow ride, and they can be very shy, not coming to the surface near vessels. When they surface to take a breath, they don't splash. Their backs arched, they rolled from fluke to beak. The harbor porpoise's vocalizations consist of short clicks that can last anywhere from 0.5 to 5 milliseconds and up to 2 seconds. The frequency of each click ranges from 1000 to 2200 hertz. In addition to being used for communication, the clicks are also used for echolocation.

Ecology

Harbour porpoises mainly eat schooling fish, like herring and mackerel. Occasionally, they will eat squid and octopus. They are most often seen singly, in pairs, or in groups of up to 10, although there are reports of aggregations of up to 200 harbor porpoises. Most seasonal movements appear to be inshore-offshore and may be influenced by prey availability or the presence of ice-free waters.

Conservation

The use of mitigation strategies for fisheries bycatch, such as area and time closures, off the coast of California and in the inland seas of Washington State, successfully decreased the mortality rate of harbor porpoises and eventually increased their number. The primary cause of harm to porpoises is the use of gill and tangle nets for static fishing. Worldwide, bycatch in bottom-set gill nets is thought to be the primary cause of anthropogenic mortality for harbor porpoises. Incidental bycatch, which has been documented from the Black Sea, Baltic Sea, North Sea, off California, and along the east coast of the United States and Canada, claims thousands of lives every year.

Behavior

They prefer to be either alone or in small groups and are known to be very shy of boats and humans, the latter of which present multiple threats to the very existence of these little porpoises.

Distribution and Habitat

Harbor porpoises are found in the coastal waters of the sub-Arctic and predominantly cool temperate waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, although they are also found off the north-west coast of Africa. They frequently visit shallow bays, estuaries, and tidal channels less than 200m in depth and have also been known to swim up rivers. The majority of sightings occur within 10km of land, and although there is some evidence of north-south migrations, most harbor porpoise appear to have preferred habitat encompassing a broad area.


Tamed

You will need to adhere to two principles in order to tame the whale. To continue feeding the blue whale is the first step. The second is to get rid of or divert the animals that are around the blue whale. To stay near to the blue whale, using a rapid water mount would be beneficial. Blue whales were shot to tranquilize them, feed them while they were asleep, and continuously overdose on opioids.

Lore

Coming soon

Known Individuals

Gallery

Foreign Languages

Trivia