Finless porpoise

Glattschweinswal ( Neophocaena phocaenoides )

The Glattschweinswal ( Neophocaena phocaenoides ), also called Indian porpoise or fin Loser porpoise, is a cetacean of the family of porpoises ( Phocoenidae ).

Description

The Glattschweinswal is light gray, which coloration with age becomes brighter copies in rivers are usually darker in color. The base can be lighter, even a darker " chin strap " may be present. Straight porpoises missing the fin, but the back is provided with a Tuberkelreihe. These animals can reach a length from 1.4 to 1.65 meters and a weight of 30 to 45 kg. The head is small and, significantly rounded by the melon. The flippers are slender and curved, the Fluke crescent-shaped with a distinct notch in the middle.

Way of life

Straight porpoises are considered sedate animals. To breathe it rolls up to the surface, cracks are almost never observed. His diving are not longer than 11 to 15 seconds. They live in small groups, which rarely consist of more than four animals. Their diet consists of fish, crustaceans (shrimp) and cephalopods. The young are born after a gestation period of 11 months and nursed 6 to 15 months.

Dissemination

Straight porpoises live in the Asian coastal waters from the Persian Gulf to Japan, particularly common they are in the Indian, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese waters. In addition, it is found also in estuaries and even in rivers such as the Yangtze River. In most cases, they will stay in the flat, up to 50 meters deep water.

Threat

For an accurate estimate of the threat level there is too little data. Due to its coastal lifestyle factors are as collisions with motorboats, the entanglement in fishing nets and marine pollution hazards for the animals dar. They also consume many discarded human waste such as glass bottles, which also often causes death. However, two studies, one later from the 1970s and one from the 1999/2000 indicate that population and habitat have declined style. Scientists suspect that this decline continues for decades. In an expedition in 2006 could be counted in the Chinese Yangtze River, only about 300 copies of the Glattschweinswal based there.

System

For a long time claimed as monotypic, the genus Neophocaena was split into the types Neophocaena phocaenoides and Neophocaena asiaeorientalis 2011. The latter has two subspecies: N. a asiaeorientalis, which is very rare in the Yangtze River and the more common subspecies N. a sunameri from South Korean and Japanese waters.