Morphological variation in the harbour porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena )

Average values of morphological parameters for mature harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) are presented. Variation in these parameters with body length was examined for a sample of 35 porpoise. Several parameters including fineness ratio, fluke aspect ratio, and the ratios of fluke area:body surfac...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Curren, Krishna, Bose, Neil, Lien, Jon
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1993
Subjects:
Animal Science and Zoology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Harbour porpoise
Phocoena phocoena
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z93-143
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z93-143
Description
Summary:Average values of morphological parameters for mature harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) are presented. Variation in these parameters with body length was examined for a sample of 35 porpoise. Several parameters including fineness ratio, fluke aspect ratio, and the ratios of fluke area:body surface area and (body surface area) 1/2 :(body volume) 1/3 were found to vary with body length. Fluke aspect ratio was inversely proportional to fluke sweep angle. The finding that many morphological parameters vary with length for harbour porpoise indicates the dependence of these parameters on age; this may also be true for other cetacean species.

Similar Items