Common Harbour Porpoise Skull

Description

Common Harbour Porpoise Skull measures 12.2 inches. Common Harbour Porpoise Skull is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in USA. Phocaena phocaena is the scientific name. Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home decor skull, or office decor skull. 2-part skull (separate cranium & jaw).

The Common harbour porpoise or Phocoena phocoena is one of six species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest marine mammals. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers. This porpoise often ventures up rivers, and has been seen hundreds of miles from the sea.

The common harbour porpoise or Phocoena phocoena is a little smaller than the other porpoises, at about 26 to 33 in. long at birth. Adults of both sexes grow to 4.6 to 6.2 ft. The females are heavier, with a maximum weight of around 168 lbs. compared with the males at 134 lbs. The body is robust, and the animal is at its maximum girth just in front of its triangular dorsal fin. The beak is poorly demarcated. The flippers, dorsal fin, tail fin and back are a dark grey. The sides are a slightly speckled, lighter grey. The underside is much whiter, though there are usually grey stripes running along the throat from the underside of the body.

Many anomalously white colored common harbour porpoise or Phocoena phocoena have been confirmed, mostly in the North Atlantic, but also notably around Turkish and British coasts, and in the Wadden Sea, Bay of Fundy and around the coast of Cornwall.

Although conjoined twins are rarely seen in wild mammals, the first known case of a two-headed harbour porpoise was documented in May 2017 when Dutch fishermen in the North Sea caught them by chance.

The Common harbour porpoise or Phocoena phocoena species is sometimes known as the common porpoise in texts originating in the United Kingdom. In parts of Atlantic Canada known colloquially as the puffing pig, and in Norway ‘nise’, derived from an Old Norse word for sneeze; both of which refer to the sound made when porpoises surface to breathe.

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