Abstract

Surface temperatures were taken once every minute for 10 minutes in 10 places on the skin of a juvenile harbour porpoise with a radiation thermometer, immediately after the animal had been removed from the water. During the 10-minute measurement period the temperature of the skin on the tailstock and on the centre and tip of the tailfluke blade increased quickly, whereas the temperature of the skin next to the dorsal fin increased slowly. The temperature of the tailstock and centre of the tailfluke blade did not stabilize during the 10 minutes that the porpoise was on land. The variation in measurements between sessions was relatively low at the eye, near the external auditory meatus and the skin next to the dorsal fin, medium at the centre and tip of the pectoral fin and the centre of the dorsal fin, and relatively high at the tip of the dorsal fin, the tailstock and the centre and tip of the tailfluke blade.