Vaquita

Permanently banning all gillnets throughout the vaquitas’ range. Using passive acoustics to annually test the effectiveness of vaquita conservation actions. Bringing as many vaquitas as possible into human care until gillnets are no longer a threat within vaquitas’ habitat. Another frequently asked inquiry is “Are vaquitas dangerous?”. The most usefull answer is, If you are … Read more

If the Vaquita becomes extinct it will ruin the food, chain food web, and the ecosystem . The prey that Vaquitas feed on will increase because there is one less organism that will eat it. If the Vaquita becomes extinct, the squid or the croakers might have a sudden boom in reproduction and start to … Read more

The smallest living species of cetacean, the vaquita can be easily distinguished from any other species in its range. It has a small body with an unusually tall, triangular dorsal fin, a rounded head, and no distinguished beak. The coloration is mostly grey with a darker back and a white ventral field. What is a … Read more

Vaquita live in shallow lagoons no more than 25 km (16 mi) from shore where there is a strong tidal mix. Although they can survive in lagoons that are so shallow that their back protrudes above the surface of the water, they prefer water that is 10 to 28 m (33 to 92 ft) deep. … Read more

Put together, Phocoena sinus is the “porpoise of the Gulf of California.” The species is also known as the cochito, yet this common name is used to describe several marine animals in the geographic area. The name vaquita was popularized from local fishermen’s name for the species. Scientists first identified the vaquita in 1958. In … Read more

Vaquitas have small, strong bodies with a rounded head and no beak. They have black patches around their eyes and lips and small, spade-shaped teeth. Vaquitas also have triangle-shaped dorsal fins in the middle of their backs, which are taller and wider than in other porpoises. A common inquiry we ran across in our research … Read more

International Save the Vaquita Day (July 18, 2020) is intended to be an annual event similar to Earth Day, but with a specific focus on raising awareness and appreciation of the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the vaquita (Phocoena sinus). One of the next things we asked ourselves was, is it too late to save … Read more

Interesting Facts The vaquita is the most endangered marine mammal in the world. First assessed as critically endangered in a 1996 IUCN report, the vaquita has become a symbol for environmental sustainability. Another frequent query is “When was the vaquita listed as endangered?”. Vaquitas have been listed as an endangered species since 1985 under the … Read more

Vaquitas have the smallest range of any whale, dolphin, or porpoise. They only live in the northern part of the Gulf of California, an area that is rich in fish and shrimp. Fishing is thus a major source of income for the people there, who almost exclusively use gillnets, but vaquitas can also become accidentally … Read more

Vaquitas have never been held in captivity. It is one of the rarest and most-endangered mammal species in the world. Its fate is tied to that of the upper Gulf of California ecosystem. The vaquita could go extinct in as little as two years if we do not act NOW. Vaquitas only live in one … Read more