Finless Porpoise

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

The Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides), known locally as 'bulia' in the Konkan-Goa-North Karnataka region, is a small marine mammal found in shallow, usually inshore coastal waters. Though it may not be actually rare, with some fishermen reporting frequent sightings, these animals are rather hard to see due to their very quick, abrupt surfacings and their very agile, relatively unpredictable movements (compared to dolphins which are much easier to follow through a camera lens). The "finless" back of this species makes it all the more difficult to spot at sea, especially when it gets even a little rough.

The image is not very aesthetically pleasing, but this happens to be the behaviour of this species; properly visible surfacings and leaps are very rare. This was our (my survey volunteers' and my) first sighting of this elusive animal in this region, roughly 5.5 km from shore. We have been fortunate to have had no less than 10 separate sightings, including solitary individuals, pods and a mother-calf pair, all very close to the boat, over the course of the 12 surveys done so far.

Nikon D3100, Nikkor 70-300 ED VR
SS 1/2000
Av 8.0
ISO 400
Cropped

C&C welcome. Observers (especially students) are welcome, do get in touch if you would like to join us for surveys.

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Rare and lovely image. It has lifted its head and you have clicked at the right moment. In the rivers of Sundarbans, the Finless Porpoise is there but I have never seen.Thanks for sharing. SaktiWild

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Thanks Saktiji. I was to some extent lucky to have them surfacing parallel to the boat and with the head clearly raised. There is generally no time to focus (while dolphins surface for 2-3 seconds, the finless porpoise surfaces for a fraction of a second and very quickly darts below the surface), so when shooting this species, I use a shorter focal length, narrower aperture, pre-focus on an area where some disturbance may be visible, and click immediately upon seeing a surfacing.

Location: Roughly somewhere off the Karnataka-Goa border.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Great to see this Abhishek. It is called Eliyan yeedi (rat dolphin) / Kara yeedi in malayalam. Like you said fleeting glimpses are common in fishing boats off the coast and they get caught in gill nets often.

TFS
Roopak

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Great to see this image. Good to know that you have finally got the Rufford Small Grants.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Roopak - That is interesting. Have read about them getting caught in purse seines down south (they associate with typical purse seine catch species like sardine), and it probably happens here as well. Didn't know gill nets are a significant threat.

[Debasis Bose]

Superb, rare catch. Have read and heard about it but seeing it first time through your image. Thanks for sharing

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Abhishek, I guess it could be due to the fact that the those who have given this information are mostly traditional gillnet operators and they say the animal gets entwined in the gill by swimming into it and not necessarily in trying to feed on the catch. But these are general observations from traditional fishermen and not the opinion of someone studying this subject and there is the possibility of exaggeration.

Rgds
Roopak