Taken with Olympus E500 digital camera June 22nd 2007. Click image for larger view.
Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is one of the smallest mammals living in the sea.
In this picture you can see two Harbour Porpoise swimming very close to my boat when I was out fishing last summer. They got a bad reputation of scaring the fish away so I wasn’t too happy to see the small whales.
The Harbour Porpoise can be very fascinating to observe when they hunt for fish as they swim extremely fast and make loud breathing noises when they come to the surface for a short moment. The whales can also be very curious animals (especially the young Harbour Porpoise) and can approach boats. I have several times experienced Harbour Porpoise swimming around and under my boat like some playful dolphins.
Hope I will never experience a porpoise getting caught on my fishing tackle. That would be some some ride! 😉
Information about the picture:
Camera: Olympus E-500 digital SLR camera
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Lens: Olympus Zuiko Digital 40-150mm F3.5-4.5
Location: On fjord by Laupstad (Andørja), Troms in Northern Norway
You have some of the most stunning and beautiful photos!
You say they’re small, but strong. How long are they on average? Any idea how much they weigh?
Nice photo. I stumbled your article.
Beautiful photo. It is so relaxed and peaceful.
Mark: The grown Harbour Porpose are 1.4 m to 1.9 m long and weigh about 75kg.
Here is a link to more information onWikipedia.
wow nice picture and view really love waters and spend there to relax ^_^
I just love your photos!
Just beautiful!
In that case be careful were you put your fishing tackle 🙂
I love porpoise, you are one lucky bugger living so near such cool wildlife.
Wonderful beautiful scenery!
Nice Image. I work for parks Canada and would like to use this image in an exhibit we are developing. Can you contact me? Thanks!
This is unusual behavior for this species since they usually shy away of boats.