Category Archives: Porpoise

In Conclusion

When I reach the end of a manuscript, I dread writing the conclusion because a conclusion requires a great deal of thought and effort. Just as we were nearly done polishing my non-fiction book, Kodiak Island Wildlife, the editor said he believed the book needed a conclusion, and I groaned, but I also agreed with him.

I don’t know how long I stared at a blank computer screen, but I could think of nothing to write. How do you sum up a book about wildlife? Then, as I stood on our boat one morning, watching giant fin whales with our guests, the conclusion for my book popped into my mind, fully formed. When I read it to my husband, tears came to my eyes, and I knew I had done my best work. My editor agreed, and he said it was the perfect ending. The following is the conclusion for my recently released book, Kodiak Island Wildlife.

Emerald cliffs plunge into the gray ocean, and only a slight breeze stirs the surface of the water. In front of our boat, three huge fin whales feed, frequently surfacing to breathe. Their exhalations sound like cannon shots, and our guests capture every moment with their cameras. A sea otter bobs placidly a short distance from our boat, and a bald eagle circles overhead. I have seen all of this many times, but still, it takes my breath away, and a chuckle escapes my lips. How have I managed to live my life in one of the most beautiful places on the planet? To me, Kodiak is paradise. Sure, the weather here throws frequent tantrums, and mistakes in the hostile wilderness do not go unpunished, but I have found nowhere else I would rather live.

One of my greatest joys is to guide visitors into the Kodiak wilderness. I love the look on a newcomer’s face the first time she sees a Kodiak bear or watches a sea otter eat a crab. I wrote this book to honor the wild animals we’ve watched over the years and to thank the many folks who have visited our lodge. I know they would tell you that Kodiak is a special place. The island is mysterious and magical.

It is a short conclusion, but it sums up how I feel and accurately describes my motivations for writing the book. I am grateful for the many experiences I’ve enjoyed. My life is an adventure filled with wonder in the Kodiak wilderness, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.


Speaking of wildlife, I hope to return to regular and more frequent posts soon. The past two months have been hectic. I’m writing this while I sit on our boat. We are cruising 100 miles around Kodiak Island from our lodge to the town of Kodiak, where we will have our boat lifted out of the water so that we can clean and paint the bottom. As soon as we return home, we have endless jobs awaiting us before our summer season begins. Meanwhile, I am trying to promote my new book and keep up with my scheduled newsletters and podcasts. I realize I’ve let my blog posts fall through the cracks, and I vow to make my posts more of a priority in the future. Thank you for your patience.


Kodiak Island Wildlife is now Available


Robin Barefield is the author of four Alaska wilderness mystery novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, and Karluk Bones. Sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true crime and mystery in Alaska, and listen to her podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier.

Listen to my podcast about true crime and mystery in Alaska.

Mystery Newsletter

Sign Up for my free, monthly Mystery Newsletter about true crime in Alaska.

Porpoises

 

Two species of porpoises frequent the waters near Kodiak Island: The harbor porpoise and Dall’s porpoise. Our guests often ask if the terms dolphin and porpoise can be used interchangeably, and the answer is no! Porpoises and dolphins are as distinct as cats and dogs, and they belong to different taxonomic families. Porpoises are smaller than dolphins, and they are stockier and lack the characteristic “beak” of a dolphin. Porpoises have spade-shaped teeth while dolphins have conical teeth. Porpoises grow faster and reach sexual maturity at a younger age than most dolphin species. Most porpoise species are less social than dolphins, and porpoises usually hang out alone or in small, fluid groups.

Harbor, Porpoise

The harbor porpoise is one of the smallest oceanic cetaceans, and it is the smallest cetacean found in Alaska. The body of a harbor porpoise is stocky and rotund through the mid-section, tapering to a slender tail stock. An average harbor porpoise is five ft. (1.5 m) in length and weighs 130 lbs. (60 kg). The body is dark gray or dark brown on the back, fading to a lighter gray on the sides. The throat and belly are white, but there may be a streak of gray on the throat and a dark chin patch. The flippers are dark in color, and a dark stripe extends from the flipper to the eye

Harbor porpoises primarily eat fish, but they may also feed on squid, octopus, and crustaceans. In Alaska, they feed on fish such as cod, herring, and pollock, and it has been estimated that they eat approximately 10% of their body weight each day. They surface in a slow roll and rarely “porpoise” out of the water. They are shy and seldom approach vessels, and they never play in the bow wake like Dall’s porpoises do. Large sharks, dolphins, and killer whales all prey on harbor porpoises.

img076

Dall’s porpoise is easily identified by its striking black and white coloration that resembles the markings of a killer whale and the characteristic rooster-tail splash it often makes when surfacing. A Dall’s porpoise averages six ft. (1.8 m) in length and weighs approximately 270 lbs. (123 kg). It has a stocky, muscular body and is particularly robust through the mid-section. It has a small, round head that slopes steeply to a short, poorly defined beak. It has small teeth shaped like grains of rice. The teeth are the smallest of any cetacean species, and they often do not rise above the surface of the gums. The color pattern of Dall’s porpoises varies between individuals, but most are black on the upper sections of the body, with large oval-shaped white sides and white bellies. A band of white usually borders the flukes and the dorsal fin.

Dall’s porpoises forage at night, and they feed on small fishes and cephalopods. In Alaska, they eat squid and small schooling fishes such as capelin, lantern fish, and herring. A Dall’s porpoise consumes approximately 28 to 30 lbs. (12.7-13.6 kg) of food each day.

Dall’s porpoises are the fastest of the small cetaceans, reaching speeds of 35 mph ( 56.3 km/hr), which is a tie with killer whales for the fastest marine mammals. You can often see them from a distance, slicing through the water and creating a V-shaped splash called a rooster-tail splash. This splash creates a hollow cone that allows the porpoise to breathe under the surface of the water. Dall’s porpoises rarely engage in acrobatic behavior such as breaching or leaping out of the water, but they will charge a rapidly moving boat to ride the bow or stern waves, and they may remain in the bow wave for half an hour or more, darting in and out of the wake and making steep-angled turns.

Killer whales and sharks may prey on Dall’s porpoises, but because of their speed, agility, and fairly large body size, they often can escape predators. About 30 Dall’s porpoises per year die as a result of being caught in fishing nets in Alaska. It is unclear why they get caught in salmon nets, since they don’t feed on salmon, but many of the deep-sea species they do feed on come to the surface at night when these porpoises feed, making it more likely they will run into nets.