The Spectacled Porpoise
Sierra Handbook of Whales and Dolphins
The Spectacled Porpoise, or Australophocaena weighs between 60 and 84
kilograms and is 1.55 to 2.04 meters in length. They have 18 to 23 pairs of small teeth
that are laterally compressed to give a spade-shape in the upper jaw. They have 16 to 19
pairs of teeth in the lower jaw. They are white on the belly or lower part of their bodies
and black on the back or top part of their bodies. They have black rimmed eyes and lips with gray
stripes that run from the white flippers to the jaw angle. They have a rotund body, little forehead,
no beak, and relatively small flippers with rounded tips. They have a triangular dorsal
fin with a rounded peak which is larger in males. They can be found in the coastal waters
of eastern South America to southern Urugay south to Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands,
and South Georgia. Some reports in Auckland Islands, and in sugarctic islands of New Zealand,
Kerguelen Island, the Indian Ocean. Their population size is currently unknown.