#Harbour porpoise

[ruxree]

The lesbians are thankful

[namu-the-orca]

What color are orcas' eyes?

In short, mostly brown. In long, it's a bit complicated as Killer whales (and for that matter, all cetaceans) have multi coloured eyes! Unlike us humans, who have a singular coloured iris and a white sclera, cetacean eyes come in more flavours. Their iris is circled by a pale ring of varying colour, and the surrounding sclera is more often than not coloured too, sometimes even bi-colored. I have actually been working on a cetacean eye-colour-chart thing so I have some neat illustrations ready.

Here you can see the components that make up a cetacean's eye. It should be noted though that when relaxed, the eyelids cover much of it, leaving almost only the iris visible. As an example: a Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). On the left a clear view of the eye in its totality; on the right as visible in life.

Onto the whale in question. All cetaceans have beautiful brown irises: in many it is an unbelievably rich reddish hue when sunlight hits it directly. In shadow or underwater it looks more subdued though. Then comes the pale ring which in Killer whales is quite variable: in some animals it is very pale, almost white, while others have beautiful bright blue rings. The sclera appears two-toned in blackfish as far as I've seen. Killer whales have a rather modest dark brown area of sclera around the iris-pale-ring-combo, with the surrounding "base" sclera reddish pink. For comparison, False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) have a bit more substantive dark brown sclera area, with the surrounding sclera a striking bright red.

I hope this answers your question! This makes me want to finish this chart haha so maybe that'll come soon-ish in its totality.

[critter-creature-or-beast]

trick or treat? :)

Happy Halloween! I hope you like your harbour porpoise!

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[respect-the-locals]

🐬Daily Cetacean Fact:🐬

Harbour Porpoise: Harbor porpoises live in northern temperate and subarctic, and arctic coastal and offshore waters. They are commonly found in bays, estuaries, harbors, and fjords less than 650 feet deep. Unlike most other porpoises, they do not approach boats to bow ride and can be very shy, avoiding surfacing near boats. When surfacing for air, they do not splash. They roll from beak to fluke and arch their backs.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

More mermaid things! I mentioned in the merfolk overview post that mermaids can use magic to become two-legged, other humans can do the same but in reverse! The spell isn't the exact same sort that created merfolk so long ago, but it does the job quite handily. Normal two-legged humans tend to gain an aquatic mammal lower body if they don't have other kinds of merfolk in their family.

In my previous art post I introduced Sirpa, who is a zander-harvour porpoise hybrid, a rare feature in half-animal people overall. Above we have Sirpa's parents, and then the mishmash of features that Sirpa inherited from them. Plus Sirpa's daughter who inherited one (1) teeny tiny fin!

[jemichiart]

Apparently I never shared these here? Well, better late than never! :D

I had the honor to illustrate the cover and a page for the second The Sea Unseen zine last year.

The cover features surgeonfishes, butterflyfishes, and moorish idols and it was inspired by the reef photos of @cabalrive

The page illustration features harbour porpoises and moon jellies.

I really enjoy painting marine animals, and you should check out @seaunseenzine for more incredible art from many talented artists that collaborated on this project! 💙

[the-feelen-region]

No. 9: Porpone, the wind powered pokémon

Type: Water / Flying

Evolves from: ???

"Whenever storms rage over the oceans, Porpone can be seen soaring between wind turbines. It is said that the harder the wind rages, the more powerful Porpone become."

Name origin: the name Porpone is a combination of Harbour Porpoise and Cyclone.

Design Origin: After Furnura I decided I wanted a strong theme between my starters to tie them all together and make them more cohesive and memorable. Since Furnura is a coal furnace, I decided on basing the water starter on wind turbines. The Netherlands has a couple of offshore wind farms, so tying that in with the water starter was a natural fit.

The animal this Pokémon is based is the Harbour Porpoise (P. phocoena) which is the most common (and only?) Cetacean in the Dutch seas. Finding a semi-aquatic animal to serve as a water starter that hasn't been used yet was surprisingly hard. While I do think cetaceans don't lend themselves super well to the "out of water" experience of other water starters, I do think I can make it work with the Flying subtype.

[mothean-photography]

Harbour Porpoise - Bempton Cliffs

[richdadpoor]

Russia’s War Against Ukraine Is Killing Dolphins in the Black Sea

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has destroyed infrastructure and displaced about 5 million people from the country since last spring. The country’s conservationists have also noticed that the war is killing endangered Black Sea dolphins and harbor porpoises. Even Twitter Can’t Kill Twitter | Letter From the Editor Harbor porpoises and bottlenose dolphins have washed up dead on the Black…

[dansnaturepictures]

12th April 2023: Day four of the Scotland trip 

Photos I took last Wednesday in this set are of: 1. The colourful Tobermory, a charming and memorable place to visit before leaving Mull. 2. Dazzling Black Guillemot at Fishnish just before getting the ferry back to the mainland. 3. Goosander on Loch Eil when we got back to the mainland, a key bird of the trip and very key bird of that day on Mull and the mainland. 4. One of two Ospreys we got stunning views of when back on the mainland, an amazing way to see this long time top favourite bird of mine for the first time in 2023. A revelation of the whole trip the Scottish Ospreys creating some of my best ever memories with them. 5. Otter at Dervaig back on Mull before leaving a pair seen well in the rain, we saw one before boarding the ferry at Fishnish too to really fill our boots of utterly amazing Otter sightings last week. 6. A Black Guillemot seen very well on Loch Eil, birds I love. 7, 8 and 9. Views at Loch Eil, the increased snow on the mountains following heavy precipitation after we came back from Mull was beautiful and mystical to see. 10. The stunning female Ring-necked Duck on Milton Loch which it was a huge bonus to see the first female one I’ve seen. One of my birds of the year, what a species. 

Other highlights that day were Golden Plover and Greenshank on Loch Eil, Common Seal there and Red-throated Diver and Shelduck flying over there, Kittiwake a juvenile seen I believe we only saw that one that day and Common Gull seen well it was interesting to see these fairly similar birds on the same day a lot last week which we don’t usually and amazing views of Harbour Porpoise at Tobermory and on Loch Eil I always feel very thrilled to see them.

[blackandwhiteproductions]

Bruinvisbaai Harbour Porpoise main pool at Dolfinarium in Harderwijk

[antiqueanimals]

Porpoises by Louis A. Sargent. From Wild Beasts of the World, Vol. Two. Written by Frank Finn, published in 1909.

Internet Archive

[leopardsealz]

my darling porpoisestar

please reblog my art!

[sadclowncentral]

about the sea: have you sailed along the southwestern edge of the baltic sea? if yes, could you describe the land and the shore and the water there? i’m doing a little infographic on the fall migration of european starlings from Latvia to the UK (via Denmark) and i’ve never been along that coast! google maps is ok, but cannot compare to someone’s lived experience. especially with the narrative similarities between sailing and flying

this is and remains my favourite ask I have ever gotten, and it took me some time to get it right. The Baltic southwest is in my unbiased opinion the most beautiful place in the world, all year round, and I could never do it justice in all of it’s facets and different faces it wears through the year. So here are some snapshots of the southwest islands through the year, both of the sea and the shore:

Langeland, Denmark in late spring

The southern tip of the island is so flat that it nearly vanished into the sea until you are right in front of it. The belts and straits of what is lovingly called the Danish south sea are a bright blue in the first sunny days of the year. Sometimes, close to shore, yellow-green pollen bloom even creates swirling patterns in the water. There is animals everywhere; birds settled in the quieter water of the bay, mostly seagulls and loons, but swans as well; if you are very lucky, a harbour porpoise will choose the wake of your ship to swim along with, and further east, you might even meet a seal or two. The coast is green fields and white turbines turning so fast that they are blurring before you. Between it all, a constant trail of huge container ships passes the straits, turning the sky close to the water grey with their exhausts. It all seems so warm, until a single cloud passing in front of the sun reminds you of the coldness of the air.

Fehmarn, Germany in early summer

The canola fields are still in full bloom, turning the whole island a bright, joyous yellow, interspersed with specks of red and blue from the field flowers, swishing in the wind. Bright yellow and bright green against the blue backdrop of the Baltic sea. The island and the land here are flat as a pancake, making it easy to see from shore to shore; only on its edges, like a crumpled paper, does the island lift up into sandy cliffsides that drop of dramatically into pebbled beaches. Standing on the beach, the water is a azure blue, and in the sun, the numerous sandbanks are clearly visible in the light turquoise. While the wind is ever present, it is subdued in early summer, but the jagged cliffs are a stark reminder of the violence of the winter storms. All trees lean towards the shore, gnarled branches disfigured by the wind; there is a reason we call it “the land that even trees bow for”.

Ven Island, Sweden in the middle of the summer

Coming from the open water up north, the island appears like a golden hill rising out of the sea. The grainfields in full bloom, the warm sandy beaches, and the sun behind it. Behind you, the Øresund gave you the perfect reprieve, watching cities and mixed tree forest pass by in turn on either side after the rough waters of the Kattegatt, where both North and Baltic sea crash together in a cacophony of wave pattern, shaking you and your boat around frantically over strong winds. Now, on Ven, it seems almost a lifetime ago, as you follow the soft roads winding up the island and watch as grain and water are dispersed by the wind in mirrored patterns, golden and green-blue.

Christiansø, Denmark in later summer

Arriving in Christiansø is always a wild ride. While the sun beats down in unrelenting brightness, the waves and wind that had time to build over the whole Baltic sea are so strong that salt crystals form on your face from the constant sea spray that hits you in the face. The island seems almost unreal – just jagged brown-grey teeth of rock rising out of the middle of the sea with no land visible in either direction for miles, with deepest blue water surrounding it, no ground in sight. The waves crash on the stubborn rocks with a loud crashing sound, and over all of that, the stubborn calls of birds that circle around the islands undeterred. On the island, the specks of green, of still water ponds and green grass (I don’t remember a single tree), seem almost comical against the rusted brown rocks. You stare out into the dark marine blue and watch the sunset through the roaring and screeching.

Rügen, Germany in early autumn

Auttumn has arrived, and with it, heavy clouds and heavier winds. The Baltic sea, as beautiful as it is in summer, as strong are the east wind storms that start belting down on the southwest from September onwards. Without the sunlight, the water has turned a deep angry green, but mostly white, as sea foam flies over gnashing waves. Sometimes, as the water rises past your ship, you can see the last moon jellyfish of the season in long tangled webs of kelp pass you by. The rain is soft and dispersed, but colder than the water and makes visibility low. But then, the northeast of the island comes into view, as darkness has already set in, and as the wind dies down and the clouds disperse the island shines in a blinding white, the chalk cliffs of the island rising above the water. The breaking off chalk turns the water here a pastel turquoise in the sun as it dispersed, but here now, it’s dark grey, just as the sky.

[learnukrainian]

Dzharylhach National Park

A beautiful natural reserve in Ukraine

A couple of facts about the reserve (sourced from various websites, i.e. tourist guides, interviews with researchers, news articles etc and rewritten by me; if you notice false information, please, let me know)

Dzharylhach Natural Reserve is an island in the South of Ukraine (Kherson region), surrounded by the Azov Sea.

The territory of the island is uninhabited by people

There is a lighthouse on the island, and a legend related to it: some say that the lighthouse was built by one of the students of Gustave Eiffel (yup, the renown creator of the Eiffel Tower). Is it true? Who knows :) Feel free to explore the topic further!

Dzharylhach is home to wild animals and endangered (worldwide or locally) species: ~20 types of rare insects, ~69 species of birds from the Red Book of Ukraine, ~15 types of mammals. Some of those include: Chrysopogon gryllus (plant), Steppe viper (Vipera ursinii), Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius), Blotched snake (Elaphe sauromates), Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) (threatened in the Black Sea region), and others.

Sadly, after the russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) the island was occupied by russian troops. it is reported that Russians have destroyed the flora and fauna of the island by using it as one of their military bases (several fires broke out there as well). 100% accurate assessment of the damage to the reserve cannot be carried out right now due to occupation; prospects for the future restorement of the natural reserve remain uncertain.

[richdadpoor]

Russia’s War Against Ukraine Is Killing Dolphins in the Black Sea

Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine has destroyed infrastructure and displaced about 5 million people from the country since last spring. The country’s conservationists have also noticed that the war is killing endangered Black Sea dolphins and harbor porpoises. Even Twitter Can’t Kill Twitter | Letter From the Editor Harbor porpoises and bottlenose dolphins have washed up dead on the Black…