This selection of Irish animals, native or introduced, is taken from the Appletree Press title Animals of Ireland. There will be a number of extracts from the book in coming months. The book contains highly detailed full colour illustrations to complement the detailed explanatory text.

Porpoise
Phocoena phocoena
Muc mhara

This is the commonest cetacean to be found in Irish waters. It occurs mainly in late summer and autumn but it may be encountered at any time of the year. It is commonest in schools of a few individuals together but it has been seen in dozens and occasionally in hundreds. Like the others of their kind, Porpoises pursue migrating shoals of fish, crustaceans and cuttlefish found in the Gulf Stream along Ireland's southern and western seaboard. They are less frequent in the Irish Sea and along the northern coasts. Porpoises are often accompanied by seabirds like gannets, shearwaters and petrels. The Porpoise is smaller and stockier than the dolphins, averaging about 1.5 metres (5 feet) and 50 kg (110 lb) in weight. It does not have the 'beak' so characteristic of the latter group; instead the dome-shaped head is blunt-fronted like those of some whales. The dorsal fin is smaller and triangular in shape. The colour of the animal is steel-black above with a pale under-belly. There is a grey patch (which varies in shape and size) on the sides near the head. Another diagnostic feature of the Porpoise is that, although it rolls over to the front as it comes up for air, it does not jump clear of the water surface as the dolphins occasionally do.

Porpoises are found mainly offshore and venture inshore only when the feeding is particularly good. At certain vantage points on the south and west coasts they can be watched at close proximity on occasions (for example, Cape Clear Island in County Cork). Occasionally they become isolated in harbours, estuaries and even along some of Ireland's larger rivers. They are sometimes stranded as a result of these wanderings, and 'beached' animals are not rare. The reasons for strandings among cetacea in general are not fully understood, given the sophistication of their navigational equipment. The Porpoise is the smallest whale to be found in Irish waters but there have been more than twenty other species recorded including the largest of all animals, the Blue whale. Most of them are irregular visitors in small numbers but some, like the Killer whale, are regular off the western coast.

Other Aquatic Mammals (cetaceans) from Animals of Ireland include:
Dolphin
Killer Whale |