Recent climate change has triggered profound reorganization in northeast Atlantic ecosystems, with substantial impact on the distribution of marine assemblages from plankton to fishes. However, assessing the repercussions on apex…
Estimating the range at which harbor porpoises can detect prey items and environmental objects is integral to understanding their biosonar. Understanding the ranges at which they can use echolocation to…
All extant members of Phocoenidae (porpoises) have been characterized as pedomorphic based on skeletal characters. To investigate the ontogenetic background for pedomorphosis and assess interspecific differences in ontogeny among phocoenids,…
In the European North Sea, harbour porpoises are top predators with relatively long life spans and a limited capacity for metabolic biotransformation of contaminants compared to some other marine mammal…
The unique pattern of small tubercles on the leading edge of the dorsal fins of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) has been widely noted in the literature, though their structure or…
Sound plays an important role for toothed whales in foraging and communication. However, little is known about acoustic communication in the toothed whale species that only produce narrow band high…
Behavioural observations are fundamental to understanding and defining the habitat needs of animals. I compiled the behavioural repertoires reported for harbour (Phocoena phocoena) and Dall’s porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli) by classifying…
In December 2005 construction work was started to replace a harbor wall in Kerteminde harbor, Denmark. A total of 175 wooden piles were piled into the ground at the waters…
All extant porpoise species show paedomorphic skeletal traits. These traits are hypothesized to be connected with rapid growth to reproductive size and could thus show geographic variation according to ecological…
Toothed whales (crown Odontoceti) are unique among mammals in their ability to echolocate underwater, using specialized tissue structures. The melon, a structure composed of fat and connective tissue, is an…