The Harbour Porpoise Of Ostend Beach, Belgium (Phocena Phocena)
This month's article series will discuss... Ostend Beach, Belgium! Ostend Beach is in the northern area of Belgium. It is touching the southern area of the North Sea. It is on the mainland & is not an island. Ostend Beach is specifically part of the town known as Ostend. For the historical part of this month’s series, the history of the town will be studied instead of the beach itself. Ostend is approximately 61.66 miles from (70.957061 miles or 114.19432 kilometers) from the island of Great Britain. The actual name of the city is Oostende. This translates from German into English as “East End”. This is a bit confusing as Ostend Beach is in the northeastern area of Belgium. The German-speaking population of Belgium is in the western area, not the area where Ostend Beach is. This leads many to wonder how the town was named. Ostend has many different types of marine mammals in particular. This is because most marine mammals usually have large amounts of fat to insulate them from the cold waters of the North Sea. One of the more interesting of these species is known as the Harbour Porpoise. They are not endemic to Belgium, but they are found in extremely high quantities around Belgium. Harbour Porpoises are Cetaceans meaning they are extremely closely related to whales, & dolphins. They are the lesser-known of those 3. They look very similar to dolphins so they are often mistaken for being dolphins. However some defining characteristics of porpoises are that they are much smaller, they have a smaller proportioned beak, & they have less curved dorsal fins. The Harbour porpoises specifically are the most common type of porpoise that is found, many other types of endemic porpoises will be discussed in later articles. There are no known abnormalities in the Ostendian or Belgian population of harbor porpoises. They are large contributors to the ecosystems as they make sure that certain populations of fish & squid do not overpopulate in the area. They also help balance the food chain by just existing. In this article, we will discuss the life of the Harbour porpoise, the mating procedures, tactics, practices, & cycles of the harbor porpoise, the distribution of the Harbour porpoise, & finally the scientific detailings of the Harbour porpoise. With that being said, let us delve into the life of the puffing pig.
The Life Of The Harbour Porpoise
The Harbour porpoise was discovered in the year 1758 by Carl Linnaeus. The circumstances in which it was discovered are unclear. The maximum length of a harbor porpoise is approximately 6 feet (1.8288 meters) long. The females tend to be larger than the males by small amounts. Their maximum weight is approximately 200 pounds (90.7185 kilograms). The average life span of the Harbour porpoise is approximately 9 years. This does not vary based on gender. Porpoises are incredibly intelligent, as dolphins are as well. They have large & complex brains respective to other marine creatures. They are capable of recognizing themselves when shown other porpoises. This would imply that they have a sense of identity & that they have a high level of self-awareness. They are able to recognize humans as well. They are able to also hold grudges against humans, meaning if you wrong a porpoise this porpoise may show aggression towards you in the future. However, they are also able to show affection & love towards certain humans. The porpoise as the creature that we know has existed for approximately 50 million years. They can also occasionally be aggressive towards each other for mates or food. Porpoises are fairly social creatures, as they live in pods or groups. Some populations may migrate, but they usually have 1 specific territory. This means that they are most likely territorial. Porpoises can swim as fast as 34 miles per hour (54.7177 kilometers per hour), however, this is only for the adult Porpoises. Porpoises generally sleep with 1 eye open in order to keep their brain half on. They will usually sleep along the surface however sometimes they will choose to sleep in shallow areas & then come back as needed. Porpoises' diets mostly consist of fish & squid. Porpoises do not have specific hunting hours, they will hunt at all hours. Their metabolism is relatively high compared to a dolphin. Porpoises generally eat approximately 10% of their body weight every single day. They are not cannibalistic in any capacity whatsoever. Harbour porpoises have a small, robust body along with a short, blunt beak. They also possess a medium-sized triangular dorsal fin. Their back is dark gray fading to lighter intermediate shades of gray on their sides. Their belly & throat are white, with a dark gray chin patch.
The Mating Tactics, Procedures, Practices, & Cycles Of The Harbour Porpoise
Harbor porpoises mate via sexual reproduction. This species species of porpoise is not monogamous. Both genders of porpoises reach sexual maturity at approximately 3-4 years old. They are not hermaphroditic in any capacity. They cannot change genders. They are incredibly promiscuous creatures & often will attempt to produce more sperm to beat the male competition. Males will often approach lone females & attempt to mate with them. They will not mate in large groups. It is estimated that approximately 62.5% of mating events happen when a male approaches a lone female in order to initiate reproduction. It is extremely rare to see a male approach large groups of females. When the males approach the females, they will often go at very fast speeds in order to do so. They will also leap around the female occasionally. They will most often attempt to approach the female from above. The calves will often get separated from their mothers during this event. For approximately 25% of events, the calf will accompany the mother. During an experiment in which these mating events were documented, it was observed that the males always attempted to initiate breeding by positioning their ventral sides on the females’ left side. This extreme laterality in sexual approach has not been reported for any cetacean species. Males have also been known to have displayed their penis toward the female without attempting to initiate breeding. They do appear to have a specific breeding month or season, with that being from June to September. The females will often engage with more than one male per breeding season. The females will usually only give birth to one single calf. They give birth through live birth & they do not lay eggs. Their gestation period is somewhat close to humans, being approximately 10-11. They do lactate, often for approximately 8-12 months after the baby is born. Calves can usually consume solid food such as fish at around 5 months old. The calves will usually leave their mothers at 9 months. However, it can be up to 12 months.
The Distribution Of The Harbour Porpoise
The Harbour porpoise is found around 4 of 7 continents. These continents are Africa, Europe, South America, & finally North America. They do have geographically distinct populations. This species currently has 3 subspecies. These subspecies are known as Phocena Phocena Phocena in the North Atlantic & western African regions, Phocena Phocena Reilcta in the Black Sea & the Sea of Azov, & finally Phocena Phocena Vomerina in the Northeast Pacific. They have an estimated population of 700,000. The actual demographic of how many are in each area of the world does not currently exist. However, they are most commonly seen throughout Europe, suggesting the population is largely based in that area. Since they have blubber, they are able to survive in frigid polar waters.
The Scientific Detailings Of The Harbour Porpoise
Harbor porpoises are unique for their incredible intelligence. As stated in the first section of this article entry, they have shown signs of self-awareness & self-recognition. They also seem to feel emotions, both negative & positive. Whenever a caretaker who they get food from or play with enters their vicinity they seem to become happier & more relaxed. They are able to show some level of affection. They also have a very similar body mass-to-brain ratio as humans. They are also able to hold grudges against humans or other species who have physically injured them or caused discomfort in the past. Their brains are quite complex as well. Porpoises have spade-shaped teeth for ripping apart meat. They are vertebrates. In the porpoise's flippers, individual finger bones can be found. This is a remanent of their ancient land-walking ancestors. Porpoises do not have specialized organs that are only found in porpoises specifically. When swimming, they move their tail fin & lower body themup & down which propels themselves through vertical movement, while their flippers are mainly used for steering. Flipper movement is continuous. Some species log out of the water, which may allow them to travel faster, and sometimes they porpoise out of the water, meaning jump out of the water. Their phylum is Chordata meaning that they developed these 5 characteristics all species under the phylum of Chordata develop 5 similar characteristics either In adulthood or as juveniles. The characteristics that they develop include, a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal Slits, & a post-anal tail. Their class is Mammalia. Mammalia is classified by the production of milk by the mother for their child to nurse, a neocortex which is a region of the brain, some capacity for fur or hair, & three middle ear bones. There are currently 6,400 species categorized under the class of Mammalia. Their order is Artiodactyla. which are even-toed ungulates. Species categorized under Artiodactyla are ungulates, hoofed animals which bear weight equally on two of their five toes, these toes are the third & fourth toes. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. Their infraorder is that of Cetacea. Key characteristics of this infraorder are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size & exclusively carnivorous diet. Another characteristic is their incredible social intelligence. There are roughly 90 species categorized under Cetacea at the time of publishing. Their family is known as Phocoenidae. This is the family in which all porpoise species are. Species in this family are more closely related to narwhals & beluga whales than true dolphins. Their genus is Phocena. This genus has 4 of the 8 porpoise species. All species in this genus are classified as porpoises. Their binomial name is known as Phocena Phocena.
Directories / Credits
1. Harbor Porpoise - American Cetacean Society
3. The porpoise of hybridization – Marine Biology @ Friday Harbor Labs
4. The Sex Life of Harbor Porpoises: Lateralized and Aerial Behavior
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