Phocoena phocoena
Silhouette: Chris huh · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers. This porpoise often ventures up rivers, and has been seen hundreds of kilometres from the sea.
The English word porpoise comes from the French pourpois (Old French porpais, 12th century), which is from Medieval Latin porcopiscus, which is a compound of porcus (pig) and piscus (fish). The old word is probably a loan-translation of a Germanic word, compare Danish marsvin and Middle Dutch mereswijn (sea swine). Classical Latin had a similar name, porculus marinus. The species' taxonomic name, Phocoena phocoena, is the Latinized form of the Greek φώκαινα, phōkaina, "big seal", as described by Aristotle; this... Wikipedia →
Recording0:19
Denmark · 2026
© age02 · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 3 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Snowdonia National Park | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 5 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 2 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 3 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 4 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dierenpark Hoenderdaell | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
No species of the same family or order lives in Seattle, so these are its closest relatives here: other mammals.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Porpoise sighting in Seattle on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 17th most-seen of the 25 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May to September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Porpoise in Seattle on a given day, against under 5% in October to April, the lowest months. Those are among Seattle's driest months, with about 45 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in November.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Common Porpoise sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 6 cities where we can rate Common Porpoise sightings, Seattle ranks 4th at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 10%), Rotterdam [The Hague] (Netherlands, about 10%) and Istanbul (Turkey, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Porpoise is recorded against all the mammals logged in Seattle (41 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
