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So many times, I look out into the Gulf of Mexico and see these beautiful animals swimming gracefully. Most of the time I spot the arching backs briefly coming out of the water, and sometimes I am fortunate to see them jump out of the water almost as if they were putting on a show for me. One day, during a spectacular jumping show, I texted a friend and mentioned that the porpoises were jumping today. My friend, who was born and raised in Panama City Beach, responded to me saying that she did not think there were porpoises in the Gulf of Mexico. This comment got my interest, so I researched and, sure enough, there are no porpoises in "our" gulf. The animals we see surfacing in the Gulf of Mexico are actually bottlenose dolphins. The bottlenose dolphins common in the Gulf of Mexico are sometimes called grey porpoises, but they are definitely not porpoises.
This led me to even more research because, although I know "Flipper" was a bottlenose dolphin and that the mahi-mahi or dorado seen on a restaurant menu are often referred to as dolphin. So, I researched a little more and learned a lot. We are including this article thinking that other VBAs may want to know the results of my research.
Porpoises and dolphins, as well as whales, are all members of the animal classification order Cetacea. The word Cetacea is derived from a Greek word meaning “large sea creature”. These marine mammals share similar characteristics including flattened tails (flukes), and cylinder-shaped bodies. The normal range in length of a porpoise is four to seven feet. Dolphins tend to be larger than porpoises, ranging from five to thirty-one feet. Most porpoises are grey in color and have a lighter shade of grey or white on their stomach. Many dolphins are grey in color although some species show patterns of black and white, and a few can even be pink. One of the most commonly known black and white dolphins is the orca whale.
Both dolphins and porpoises have an internal system called echolocation. Using this system, the mammals emit a clicking sound that bounces back to them in the water when the sound waves hit another object. This allows the dolphin or porpoise's brain to analyze the sound to determine if it is a reasonable food source.
Dolphins usually have a slightly rounded forehead, a longer snout, cone shaped teeth, and a curved dorsal fin that is shaped like a hook. Porpoises can also have a snout but have a more rounded face, a dorsal fin that is less "hook-like", a pronounced forehead, flat teeth, and a rounded triangular tail. Both dolphins and porpoises like to eat squid, fish and crustaceans. Dolphins hunt in groups called pods, while a group of porpoises is called a shoal.
As is true for all marine mammals, both dolphins and porpoises are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). Neither dolphins nor porpoises can be hunted, fished, captured, or killed in US waters.
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