(Dang those porpoises! Don't they understand this whole hybrid thing is UNNATURAL?)
(IslandsSounder.com)
The hybrid porpoise.
First ever hybrid porpoise recovered in San Juan County
Today, 10:15 AM · UPDATED
In May the National Park Service notified the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network of a dead porpoise stranded on a pocket beach at American Camp. It turned out to be a female hybrid porpoise in excellent condition and carrying a third-trimester fetus.
"This was an incredible find!" said Amy Traxler, the stranding network coordinator. "As far as I know, we've never recovered a hybrid porpoise here in San Juan County and, although we're still searching the literature and contacting other researchers, we believe this may be the first pregnant hybrid porpoise that has ever stranded."
The carcass was recovered, brought to the Friday Harbor Labs, and necropsied by SeaDoc Society director Joe Gaydos. While no obvious cause of death has been revealed, further testing will be conducted, to include genetic testing on both mom and fetus, as well as skeleton comparisons to both species of porpoise.
"Hybrid porpoise – crosses between Dall's and harbor porpoise – have been documented in the Salish Sea, British Columbia, and southeast Alaska for many years," said Traxler. "They appear to be offspring of a Dall's female and a male harbor porpoise and, therefore, are found traveling with Dall's porpoise."
Stranding Network representatives ask that anyone who finds a marine mammal onshore, either alive or dead, contact the network immediately at 1-800-562-8832. Traxler can be reached at 378-4710, x27.
Find this article at:
http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isj/news/122622944.html
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