2014 A REAL UNEXPECTED TREAT I’d spent nearly an hour scraping barnacles off a couple crab traps. When they are covered with barnacles, the traps become very heavy to bring up and heave over the railing. Suddenly, just about 5 feet under my feet came the back of a very large porpoise surfacing from beneath my dock. He headed out toward the middle of river. Then the hump of a smaller surfaced heading toward me. Following was the big one with head above water snorting and blowing like a whale. Seems I need to carry a camera with me at all times. I refuse to carry a cell so the camera is out. I did once shoot a very short video off the dock. People often mistakenly think the ones in Tampa Bay and my Alafia River are dolphins. DOLPHIN VS. PORPOISE: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE? Dolphin or porpoise? Porpoise or dolphin? What’s the difference? It’s probably the most common identification mistake made when it comes to cetaceans. It’s plain to see how easy it is to mix-up many dolphin and porpoise species: they have similar characteristics including size, coloration and behavior. Even the names are often used interchangeably in everyday language. So what’s the deal? It’s not just a difference in colloquial name, dolphins and porpoises are actually entirely different families of cetaceans. In fact, as the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals points out, porpoises and dolphins are “as different as horses and cows or cats and dogs”. Despite their different evolutionary histories, the two families have developed such similar body plans that often we can’t tell them apart from a quick glance. Porpoise in the Alafia River behind me.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 15:34:59 +0000
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