Phocoena phocoena (Linnaeus, 1758)
Harbour porpoise
photo by FAO

Family:  Phocoenidae (porpoises)
Max. size:  200 cm TL (male/unsexed); max.weight: 70 kg
Environment:  pelagic; marine, oceanodromous
Distribution:  Mediterranean and Black Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and the Arctic: Phocoena phocoena phocoena: Baffin Island, Labrador, Newfoundland, Gulf of St. Lawrence, North Carolina, Greenland, Iceland, Faroes, Russia, Portugal, Baltic Sea [Baltic Sea population: IUCN 2010 (Ref. 84930): CR, C2a(ii).], Gulf of Finland, Gulf of Bosnia, British Isles, Tunisia, Spain, Morocco, Senegal; Phocoena phocoena relicta: Black Sea, Sea of Azov, Bosporus (Turkey), Sea of Marmara, northern Aegean Sea; Phocoena phocoena subsp.: Russia, Aleutian Islands (Alaska), Sea of Okhotsk, Japan, Bering Strait; Phocoena phocoena vomerina: Pribilof Islands, USA, Canada (Ref. 1522).
Diagnosis:   
Biology:  Found in shallow water, most often nearshore, although they occasionally travel over deeper offshore waters (Ref. 1394). Uses echo-location for orientation and foraging by emitting high frequency click sounds (Ref. 96345). Feeds on a wide variety of fish and cephalopods; small, non-spiny schooling fish (such as herring and mackerel) (Ref. 1394).
IUCN Red List Status: (LC); Date assessed: 19 May 2020 Ref. 123251)
Threat to humans: 
Country info:   
 

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