| Species fact sheet | by Global Register of Migratory Species - www.groms.de |
| Use the GROMS database for dynamic search for migratory species, new links and references. |
| Phocoena phocoena | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| Synonym: | |
| Family: | Phocoenidae |
| Order: | Cetacea |
| English: | Common porpoise, Harbour porpoise |
| French: | Marsouin commun |
| Spanish: | Marsopa común |
| German: | Schweinswal (There's a German version of this page!) |
| Norwegian: | nise, vanlig nise, havnenise (There's a Norwegian version of this page!) |
| Migration: | partial |
| Regions: | East Asia, Europe, Mesoamerica, North Africa, North America, North Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, West & Central Asia |
“Some studies have demonstrated that porpoises may reside within an area for an extend period of time. However, onshore/offshore migrations and movements parallel to the coast are thought to occur. These movements may mirror seasonal changes in distribution and availability of important prey species, and some studies indicate that these movements may correspondent to underwater ridges and banks. In some coastal areas, porpoises migrate offshore to avoid ice during winter, but in long and narrow fjords of Norway, where porpoises live year-round, fresh water input from rivers may freeze within a few hours. Under such circumstances porpoises can be fatally trapped.”
(Bjorge A, Tolley KA, 2002, Harbor porpoise - Phocoena phocoena, In: Encyclopedia of marine mammals, Perrin WF, Würsig B, Thewissen JGM (eds), 549-552, Academic Press, San Diego)
More about whales and dolphins from:
Riede, K. (2001): Global Register of Migratory Species. Weltregister wandernder Tierarten. (p. 64-68)
Recommended link(s):
| ARKive | Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena): description, pictures, movies... |
| ASCOBANS | (Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas) "The Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena" |
| www.cms.int | CMS' (Convention on Migratory Species) Review on Small Cetaceans |
| WDCS | Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society |
| OBIS-SEAMAP | Ocean Biogeographic Information System - Spatial Ecological Analysis of Megavertebrate Populations taxonomy, discription, distribution (map), ecology & behaviour, feeding & prey, threats & status of the Harbour porpoise |
| MarineBio.org | |
| sea.unep-wcmc.org | CITES species database (partly in German) |
| www.acsonline.org | American Cetacean Society Fact Sheet - "fact pack" on the harbour porpoise |
| NBN Gateway | National Biodiversity Network - Grid map of records on the Gateway for Common Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) |
| sea.unep-wcmc.org | UNEP-WCMC Species Database (German/English), showing taxonomy ("Names"), distribution ("Verbreitung"), status ("Status"), legal sources ("Legal"), text references ("Referenzen"), connotations ("Anmerkungen"), links to other databases ("Betriebsmittel"), and (links to) pictures (on other homepages) ("Photos") concerning the Harbour porpoise |
| Wikipedia | |
| www.imma.org | International Marine Mammal Association |
| Animal Diversity Web | University of Michigan - Museum of Zoology |
To gather more information about whales in general see the link collection at connotea.org: cetacea
Please help us by updating our link collection via connotea!
Feedback: mail to: Klaus Riede
(Last update: 12.7.2007 by A. Tappenhölter)