📸 PhotoPhoto: Public domain · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons Source
Dall's Porpoise
Phocoenoides dalli (Dall's Porpoise · イシイルカ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 In Japan, a traditional harpoon fishery catches about 6,000 animals per year to make up for shortages of whale meat.
- 💡 When swimming fast, it creates a rooster-tail spray that makes it popular in marine ecotourism.
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 220 kg equals eleven 20 kg bags of rice (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
Dall's Porpoise is the largest of the porpoises in the North Pacific, built with a stocky body and great speed.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has a stocky, powerful body with a small beakless head, a black body with white flanks and belly, and a triangular dorsal fin. It has the smallest teeth of any cetacean.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on squid, fish, and crustaceans that rise at night, and is a skilled diver capable of catching deep-water prey. It travels in groups of about 10–20 and rides the bow waves of fast-moving boats.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is listed as 'Jak-eun-gop-deung-eo' (Dall's Porpoise) on the National List of Species of Korea and may occur throughout all Korean waters.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/17032/50370912
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006453
- • iucnredlist.org — 50370912
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053410 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053410
- • wikidata.org — Q738564
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Dalls Porpoise Underwater.JPG
- • animaldiversity.org — Phocoenoides dalli
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Matthew Schmitz · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Phocoena phocoena)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.