My animal is the Phocoena dioptrica or the Spectacled Porpoise. The Spectacled Porpoise is a rare and rarely seen member of the porpoise family. It is fastly recognized by its black rings around it eyes. A far lighter ring commonly surrounds the darker rings. This animal lives in groups of 1-25 and usually avoids boats.  Here is the taxonomy of the animal. The porpoise feeds on squids, fish, octopus, shrimp, mollusks and other crustaceans.

 

A Spectacled Porpoise was found on a beach on Buenos Aires in 1912. Then a skull was found in Terra del Fuego initially thought to be another species, provisionally named Phocoena dioptrica but was later shown to be Spectacled Porpoise. Here is the physical description of my animal.

 

This animal is a robust creature with a small head and no beak.  As I said in the 1st paragraph, this animal has a distinctive black and white color (white underneath and black on top). They have black eyes with white rings and a white stripe on the upper part of its tail. Lastly, they have a large rounded dorsal fin. Here are the distribution and population of my animal.

 

The spectacled porpoise can be found in cool sub-arctic and low arctic waters. Many skeletons have been found on Terra del Fuego; it is believed the area is a highly concentrated with this animal. It has also been seen off of: Brazil, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Tasmania, Australia, South Pacific, Heard Islands and the Indian Ocean.  The southernmost sighting is in the Drake Passage at 58 degrees.

 

In conclusion the spectacled porpoise is an interesting creature.  It is a small robust creature with a large dorsal fin and no nose. It is believed to be a sub arctic to low arctic creature. It was also first seen and described in 1912 on the beach near Buenos Aries.

 

Author: Quinton G
Published: 02/2011

 

Sources:
Hammond, P.S., Bearzi, G., Bjørge, A., Forney, K., Karczmarski, L., Kasuya, T., Perrin, W.F., Scott, M.D., Wang, J.Y., Wells, R.S. & Wilson, B. (2008). Phoconena dioptrica. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 March 2009.