Harbour porpoises exhibit localized evasion of a tidal turbine

Source of Aegean Sea harbour porpoises

Documented sightings of harbour porpoises in the Mediterranean are rare, although the species is common in the neighbouring North Atlantic and Black Sea. However, in the past 2 decades, 4 harbour porpoises Phocoena phocoena have been recorded in the northern Aegean Sea in the eastern Mediterranean Basin. Samples were taken from 2 of these. Both have a genetic signature indicative of the Black S...

Climate change causing starvation in harbour porpoises?

Harbour porpoises respond to climate change

The effects of climate change on marine ecosystems and in particular on marine top predators are difficult to assess due to, among other things, spatial variability, and lack of clear delineation of marine habitats. The banks of West Greenland are located in a climate sensitive area and are likely to elicit pronounced responses to oceanographic changes in the North Atlantic. The recent increase...

Echolocation signals of wild harbour porpoises, Phocoena phocoena.

Field recordings of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) were made in the inner Danish waters with a vertical array of three or four hydrophones. The back-calculated source level ranged from 178 to 205 dB re 1 muPa pp @ 1 m with a mean source level of 191 dB re 1 muPa pp @ 1 m. The maximum source level was more than 30 dB above what has been measured from captive animals, while the spectral an...

NOTE / NOTE Natural hybridization between Dall’s porpoises (Phocoenoides dalli) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)

Natural hybridization occurs rarely in mammals compared with other taxonomic groups of animals. Cetaceans appear unique among mammals in exhibiting striking karyological uniformity, which suggests that they have the potential to produce hybrid offspring more readily than other mammals. However, the detection and accurate identification of wild mammalian hybrids is difficult, and molecular evide...