Vaquita is a small porpoise, found only in the Gulf of California, in Mexico. Its body is grey, olive and stocky, with a blunt head and no beak. Eyes are encircled with black rings. It has small spade-shaped teeth.
It feeds on a variety of benthic fishes, squids, and crustaceans. It uses echo-location to move and hunt and high-pitched clicks to communicate with fellow vaquitas.
It is a critically endangered species. Its biggest threats are bycatch, chemical pollution of water and climate change that decreases availability food.
Vaquita often are caught in nets set to catch other animals. This “incidental take” is the primary reason for the vaquita’s endangered status. Gulf of California fisheries include shrimp trawling and gillnet fisheries for sharks. (A gillnet is a large flat fishing net that entangles fish as it hangs vertically in the water.) Each year, 25 to 30 vaquita drown in gillnets.
Vaquita survival is closely related to the totoaba (Totoaba macdonaldi,) fishery. Like the vaquita, the totoaba lives only in the northern Gulf of California. Vaquita are easily entangled in the larger holes of the totoaba nets. In 1990, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) determined that the totoaba fishery is responsible for the vaquita’s endangered status.
Picture Credit : Google
