Scientific name

Phocoena phocoena

Gaelic name

Muc-bhiorach

Physical Description

Dolphins like me are very friendly and inquisitive but porpoises like Peggy are very shy. Porpoises are also members of the group of animals called cetaceans.

Porpoises are very much like dolphins but they are smaller and more rounded. They have a pair of small flippers, and a small but strong tail to push them through the water. Most cetaceans have dorsal fins which stick up from their backs and help them swim in a straight line but there is one porpoise which doesn't have a dorsal fin at all. This is the Finless Porpoise.

The smallest porpoise is the Vaquita which is found in the Gulf of California. It only grows up to 1.5 metres long and weighs only 55kg. The largest is the Dall's Porpoise which can weigh up to 220kg (= 7 sheep). So it is still much smaller than a Bottlenose Dolphin like me since I can weigh up to 650kg (= 21 sheep)!

Feeding

Some of the cetaceans, such a Mairi the minke whale, don't have teeth. They filter food out the sea water using hairy plates which hang down from the top of their mouths. But porpoises and dolphins have teeth and eat small fish and krill. As a dolphin my teeth are pointed but porpoises have teeth which are more rounded.

Behaviour

There are only six different species of porpoise and since they are small and shy we often don't see them. They live mostly along the coasts and some even in rivers. Just like you and me, they have to get air into their lungs to stay alive. They have a blowhole at the back of their heads to get the air in and out. If they get trapped underwater they cannot breathe and then they die.

Threats

Because they are small, porpoises can be caught in fishing nets and then they drown. They are threatened by pollution.

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