Harbour porpoise

The harbour porpoise is one of the smallest whales and dolphins. It is a porpoise, a close cousin of the dolphins, with a rounded head, no real beak and a small triangular fin on its back. Adults are about 1.4 to 1.9 metres long, and females are heavier than males.

It stays close to coasts and river mouths in the North Atlantic, the North Sea and the Black Sea, and sometimes travels hundreds of kilometres up rivers. It lives in small groups and eats fish such as herring. Like all whales, it breathes air, so it has to come up to the surface every few minutes.

Not quite a dolphin

Porpoises and dolphins are different families. A porpoise has a rounded head instead of a beak, spade-shaped teeth, and is shy and quiet instead of leaping and playing around boats.

Its back, flippers and tail are dark grey, its sides are lighter and slightly speckled, and its belly is much whiter. Newborn calves are already about 67 to 85 centimetres long.

What's in a name?

The English word porpoise comes from an old French word for pig fish. In Norway the animal is called nise, from an Old Norse word for sneeze, and in Atlantic Canada it is called the puffing pig.

Both names come from the puffing sound it makes when it surfaces to breathe. Different populations live in the North Atlantic, the Black Sea and the Pacific.

On the globe

The globe places the harbour porpoise along the coasts of the Black Sea, North Atlantic and North Sea. Look for the rounded head with no beak.