Phocoena sinus Norris & McFarland 1958

• Main Authors: Russell A. Mittermeier, Don E. Wilson
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2014
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Cetacea; Phocoenidae; Phocoena; Phocoena sinus; Baja; Stripe; San Felipe; Phocoena phocoena
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/6607574; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6607574

5. Vaquita Phocoena sinus French: Marsouin de Californie / German: Kalifornien-Schweinswal / Spanish: Vaquita marina Other common names: Cochito, Gulf of California Porpoise, Gulf Porpoise Taxonomy. Phocoena sinus Norris & McFarland, 1958, “from the northeast shore of Punta San Felipe, Baja California Norte, Gulf of California, Mexico.” This species is monotypic. Distribution. N Gulf of California (also called the Sea of Cortez) in N Mexico, the smallest known distribution of any marine cetacean. Descriptive notes. Total length 120-150 cm; weight 30-48 kg. Few fresh specimens of the Vaquita have been measured fully and weighed. Dorsalfin is relatively tall for a porpoise ofthis genus (up to 15 cm, or c.10% ofthe total body length). Head is blunt, with little or no beak, as in other species of the genus. General body color is dark brownish-gray on back, fading to pale gray or white on belly. There are black patches around eyes and around lips. There is also a darker chin-to-flipper stripe. Neonates are born darker than adults and gradually get paler in color as they age. Tooth counts generally are 16-22 in each half of each jaw. Habitat. Very specific habitat in the northern Gulf of California, although there are some suggestions the distribution of the Vaquita may have extended somewhatfarther south in the past, before it was badly depleted by gillnet fishing. The current range of the Vaquita is characterized by moderately shallow waters (mostly less than 40 m deep) just south of the mouth of the Colorado River. These waters are murky and sedimentladen. They are biologically very productive, with high chlorophyll levels, and can reach very high temperatures in summer and autumn. Food and Feeding. The Vaquita appears to be an opportunistic feeder, eating a variety of small benthic and demersal fish species. Some cephalopods and crustaceans are also eaten. Although only a handful of stomachs have been examined to determine feeding habits, the Vaquita appears to feed mostly on several species of grunts and ...