The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) is one of eight porpoise species. The species ranges throughout most of the Indian Ocean, as well as the tropical and subtropical Pacific from Indonesia north to the Taiwan Strait. Overlapping with this species in the Taiwan Strait and replacing it northwards is the East Asian finless porpoise (N. sunameri).

Distribution

The Indo-Pacific finless porpoise lives in the coastal waters of Asia, especially around Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Bangladesh. At the western end, their range includes the length of the western coast of India and continues up into the Persian Gulf. On the eastern edge of their range, they are found throughout the Indonesian archipelago and range north to the Taiwan Strait. Finless porpoises are also one of the species protected at Sundarbans National Park.

Description

thumb|230px|left|Size compared to an average human

Finless porpoises can grow to as much as in length, and can weigh up to , although the majority are smaller. The flippers are moderately large, reaching up to 20% of the total body length. Adults are typically a uniform, light grey colour, although some may have lighter patches of skin around the mouth or darker patches in front of the flippers. Newborn calves of the central and eastern subspecies are mostly black with grey around the dorsal ridge area, becoming fully grey after four to six months. However, newborn calves of the western subspecies are a light creamy grey, and become darker as they age.

The nasal passage contains nine or ten air sacs, which have a complicated structure, and are capable of sealing off all air within the passage. Behind these are an additional set of vomeronasal sacs. The trachea, however, is short, with only four cartilaginous rings.

Diet

Finless porpoises are opportunistic feeders using various kinds of available food items available in their habitat, including fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. They are reported to eat fish, shrimp and squid off Pakistan. Seasonal changes in their diets have not been studied. They also apparently ingest some plant material when living in estuaries, mangroves, and rivers, including leaves, rice, and eggs deposited on vegetation.

Behaviour

Recent data suggest the basic unit of a finless porpoise pod is a mother/calf pair or two adults, and schools of three or more individuals are aggregations of these units or of solitary individuals. Social structure seems to be underdeveloped in the species, and the mother/calf pair is probably the only stable social unit.

Like other porpoises, their behaviour tends to be not as energetic and showy as that of dolphins. They do not ride bow waves, and in some areas appear to be shy of boats. The clicks are narrow-band, with peaks of over 100 kHz.

A new study from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) study that was published in The Journal of Experimental Biology, "highlights the differences in dolphins' ability to hear across species, reshaping the previous 'one-size-fits-all' approach taken on the hearing ability of the cetaceans".

Swimming style

Although they show no acrobatics in the water, finless porpoises are believed to be very active swimmers. They typically swim just beneath the surface of the water and roll to one side when surfacing to breathe. This rolling movement disturbs very little water on the surface, so they are often overlooked when rising to breathe. Surfacing generally lasts for one minute, as they take three to four quick successive breaths, then quickly submerge into the water. They often surface a great distance from the point where they dive beneath the water's surface. Dives lasting over four minutes have been recorded, and a common pattern of behaviour is to take one long dive, followed by two shorter ones. Males reach sexual maturity at four to six years of age, and females at six to nine years. However, it is not the official 'IUCN Endangered Status'.

See also

  • List of endangered and protected species of China
  • List of cetaceans

References

  • Saving the finless porpoise
  • Finless porpoise
  • WWF species profile for river dolphins
  • Convention on Migratory Species page on the Finless porpoise