Black Sea porpoise (8 photos)

Meet the Black Sea porpoise or Azov porpoise. The animal is considered the smallest representative of cetaceans in the Black Sea. I suggest you learn a few interesting facts about him.





The Black Sea porpoise, the Azov porpoise, the Azov porpoise, or the Black Sea dolphin is the most unfairly unknown marine mammal of our seas. Everyone knows about the Black Sea bottlenose dolphins and white-sided dolphins, but no one knows about pigs, no matter who you ask! Well, let's correct the situation! If you go on vacation, you will tell everyone there that in the sea, in addition to two-legged animals, there are also porpoises.



But first, let’s put all the dots in place: the azovka, no matter how diligently it is written down on a par with other dolphins, is in fact not a dolphin! Yes, these cetaceans are very similar in appearance, but genetically the hartebeest is closest to modern beluga whales and narwhals. Similarity in face: Black Sea porpoises differ from local dolphins in their short, blunt snout and plump body. You won’t be able to cover yourself with a wide bone: with dimensions of 130-150 centimeters, animals eat up to 60 kilograms!





A 4-centimeter layer of fat on the sides of azovkas protects against hypothermia and improves swimming abilities. For vacationers, the seas are always warm, but pigs have to live there all year round! In winter, whether in the Black Sea or in the Azov Sea, you can’t really swim - so they accumulate fat. Sometimes you also have to go upstream into the rivers; no one installs heaters there either.



It's not me who's fat! And my skin is so thick!

To maintain such a hefty thermal insulation mass, one hamsyatnik needs up to 7 kilograms of food per day! According to calculations, the animals gobble up fish at a rate of up to 200 fish per hour during the day and up to 550 per hour at night. This can be either a small 3-10 centimeter bottom fish or ordinary pelagic fish. And if the Azov woman needs to dive as much as 75 meters for the first one, then she has to chase for the second one. It happens that pigs gather in large schools of up to 100 individuals and all together chase huge schools of fish. Usually this is anchovy, which is why the predators are called anchovy animals.



The ability of Azov fish to find fish is sometimes used by cunning fishermen. Using the dorsal fins above the water, people track schools of pigs, so that they can then go out to a large school of fish. And it would be nice to just catch fish, but no! Because of this “joint hunt,” Azov women themselves often end up caught in the net.



By the way, unlike dolphins, Azovs almost never jump out of the water completely.

Along with diseases, this causes enormous damage to the cetacean population: according to scientists, in 1990 there were about 10,000 cetaceans living in the Black and Azov Seas. And despite all the laws adopted, animals still continue to die. As of 2021, the Black Sea pigs continue to be endangered in the Red Book.



Azov porpoises are a subspecies of the common porpoise that lives in almost all seas of the world.

Sometimes their distant relatives—bottlenose dolphins—are to blame for the death of bovine animals. It has been recorded that bottlenose dolphins brutally deal with porpoises, but why is not exactly clear. Perhaps they see the cubs of their own species in the Azovs. But bottlenose dolphins easily destroy their own young: if there is no calf, then the female will be ready to mate again.



Another option why porpoises become victims of dolphins is competition for food. Their diet is almost identical, so dolphins simply get rid of weaker contenders for food.

The Black Sea pigs themselves are in no hurry to reproduce: one female can bring from 4 to 10 cubs in her entire life - depending on your luck. They reach sexual maturity by 3-4 years, after which they can give birth every year, while simultaneously feeding last year’s cub. The male does not help her; in mating games they behave like real pigs - they swim away immediately after mating.