Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Finless Porpoise Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Subclass: Eutheria Order: Cetacea Suborder: Odontoceti Family: Phocoenidae Genus: Neophocaena Species: phoconoides Binomial name Neophocaena phoconoides The Finless porpoise, Neophocaena phoconoides, lives in the coastal waters of Asia, especially around India, China, Indonesia and Japan. Sometimes they venture into rivers and estuaries as well. The fnless porpoise almost completely lacks a dorsal fin. Instead there is a low ridge covered in thick denticulated skin. This demonstrates that the body shape that evolution has chosen as the optimum for sharks, dolphins and porpoises is not the only possible body shape for a marine animal. Adult fnless porpoises are a uniform light grey colour. Infants are mostly black with grey around the dorsal ridge area, becoming grey after 4-6 months. Adults grow more than 1.55 metres in length. Males become sexually mature at around 4.5 - 9 years of age, females at 3 - 7 years of age. Finless porpoises eat a wide range of fish, shrimp and cephalopods, consuming whatever is available. There is not enough data to place finless porpoises on the endangered species list, except in China, where they are endangered. Many Finless porpoises are killed by human fishing. The greatest threat is being caught in nets or in lines of hooks (rolling hooks) placed across rivers. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.