Spectacled Porpoise

The spectacled porpoise (Phocoena dioptrica) is a small to midsize porpoise of the Southern Ocean and one of the least studied cetaceans, known mainly from stranded animals and a few sightings at sea. Fernando Lahille described it in 1912 and named it for the dark patch around each eye, dioptrica meaning spectacled. Adults are countershaded, black above and sharply white below, with a pale saddle patch around the dorsal fin. Females reach up to 204 cm and males up to 224 cm, and males have a much larger and more rounded dorsal fin. Strandings and sightings point to a circumpolar range in cool temperate, sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters, including the coasts of South America, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, New Zealand and southern Australia. It is thought to forage on fish and squid. The IUCN moved it from Data Deficient to Least Concern in 2018 on a provisional basis, and bycatch in gillnets is the greatest known threat.