Dall's Porpoise


Dall’s Porpoise

 

(Phocaenoides dalli), a mammal of the family Phocaenidae. The body is up to 2 m long. The teeth are very small, with up to 24 pairs in the upper jaw and up to 28 pairs in the lower. The coloration of the body is dark, with white sides and abdomen, and the edges of the caudal and dorsal fins are also white; on each side of the body is a large white field, or “wing,” hence its name in Russian of belokrylaia morskaia svin’ia (white-winged sea pig). The animal can move with great speed; it has a sharply enlarged heart and an increased volume of blood, as well as tall keels (upper and lower) on the caudal stem. The Dall’s porpoise lives in the northern half of the Pacific Ocean, to the north of California and Japan, and in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, and the Bering Sea. It sometimes visits the Sea of Chukotsk. Its main food is cephalopods and also fish. The animals stay in small groups. They have no commercial significance.

REFERENCE

A. V. IABLOKOV