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When swimming, they move their tail fin and lower body up and down, propelling themselves through vertical movement, while their flippers are mainly used for steering. Flipper movement is continuous. Some species log out of the water, which may allow them to travel faster, and sometimes they porpoise out of the water, meaning jump out of the ...
Humpback whale breach sequence. A breach or a lunge is a leap out of the water, also known as cresting. The distinction between the two is fairly arbitrary: cetacean researcher Hal Whitehead defines a breach as any leap in which at least 40% of the animal's body clears the water, and a lunge as a leap with less than 40% clearance. [2]
When in deeper waters, porpoises may forage for mid-water fish, such as pearlsides. [11] A study published in 2016 showed that porpoises off the coast of Denmark were hunting 200 fish per hour during the day and up to 550 per hour at night, catching 90% of the fish they targeted.
Various marine animals are capable of aerial locomotion, i.e., jumping out of the water and moving through air. Some possible reasons for this behavior are hunting, escaping from predators, and saving energy for swimming or breathing. Some of the jumping behaviors initiate gliding and taxiing in air, while some of them end up falling back to water.
Cetacea (/ s ɪ ˈ t eɪ ʃ ə /; from Latin cetus 'whale', from Ancient Greek κῆτος () 'huge fish, sea monster') [3] is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.
Although they show no acrobatics in the water, [citation needed] finless porpoises are believed to be very active swimmers. They typically swim just beneath the surface of the water and roll to one side when surfacing to breathe. This rolling movement disturbs very little water on the surface, so they are often overlooked when rising to breathe.
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Dall's porpoises are prey to transient killer whales. [16] They have, however, been observed in association with resident killer whales, engaging in apparent play behaviors with their calves, and swimming with them. [17] One recognizable Dall's porpoise was observed travelling with the AB pod of resident orca from May through October 1984. [17]