Harbour Porpoise
Porpoises are the commonest and most widely distributed cetaceans in north European seas yet they are frustratingly difficult to see. They only surface occasionally, usually for a split second when you get a glimpse of the back and triangular dorsal fin. They usually surface two or three times before taking a deeper dive, so disappearing for about five minutes then resurfacing elsewhere. This behaviour makes them frustratingly difficult to see, let alone photograph. I just searched Flickr to see how others had fared photographing Porpoises and the vast majority are misidentified Dolphins that are often much easier to photograph. There seem to be rather few good quality photos of genuine Harbour Porpoises on Flickr. When I was at Spurn Point we spotted maybe half a dozen Porpoises feeding on fish in the tidal race just offshore. Usually my views of Porpoises are quite distant but these were close. Amazingly I managed this lucky shot of two surfacing together which I assume is a mother and well-grown calf. None of the other Porpoises surfaced simultaneously. You can just about see the blowhole on the right hand animal. Incidentally cetaceans can never fully go to sleep as they have to consciously come to the surface to breathe. So they shut down one hemisphere of their brain at a time to sleep, like many birds do. Harbour Porpoises are found mainly in waters 20-200m depth from the Arctic down as far as Senegal, and North Carolina in the East Atlantic, But this same species is also found in the North Pacific, which is the only place I have previously managed to photograph them: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/15305706026/in/photolist The name Porpoise comes from Mediaeval Latin "Porcopiscus" meaning Pig-fish (Porcus; Pig, Piscis; Fish) and the scientific name Phocoena phocoena is a Latinised form of the Greek word for Porpoise (Phokaina). They are also Europe's smallest cetacean at about 1.5m. The next smallest is Common Dolphin at about 1.7 to 2m in length, while Bottlenose Dolphins are much larger at 3 to 3.8m.
Harbour Porpoise
Porpoises are the commonest and most widely distributed cetaceans in north European seas yet they are frustratingly difficult to see. They only surface occasionally, usually for a split second when you get a glimpse of the back and triangular dorsal fin. They usually surface two or three times before taking a deeper dive, so disappearing for about five minutes then resurfacing elsewhere. This behaviour makes them frustratingly difficult to see, let alone photograph. I just searched Flickr to see how others had fared photographing Porpoises and the vast majority are misidentified Dolphins that are often much easier to photograph. There seem to be rather few good quality photos of genuine Harbour Porpoises on Flickr. When I was at Spurn Point we spotted maybe half a dozen Porpoises feeding on fish in the tidal race just offshore. Usually my views of Porpoises are quite distant but these were close. Amazingly I managed this lucky shot of two surfacing together which I assume is a mother and well-grown calf. None of the other Porpoises surfaced simultaneously. You can just about see the blowhole on the right hand animal. Incidentally cetaceans can never fully go to sleep as they have to consciously come to the surface to breathe. So they shut down one hemisphere of their brain at a time to sleep, like many birds do. Harbour Porpoises are found mainly in waters 20-200m depth from the Arctic down as far as Senegal, and North Carolina in the East Atlantic, But this same species is also found in the North Pacific, which is the only place I have previously managed to photograph them: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/15305706026/in/photolist The name Porpoise comes from Mediaeval Latin "Porcopiscus" meaning Pig-fish (Porcus; Pig, Piscis; Fish) and the scientific name Phocoena phocoena is a Latinised form of the Greek word for Porpoise (Phokaina). They are also Europe's smallest cetacean at about 1.5m. The next smallest is Common Dolphin at about 1.7 to 2m in length, while Bottlenose Dolphins are much larger at 3 to 3.8m.