Phocoena phocoena
Silhouette: Chris huh · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Common Porpoise sighting in Great Bear Rainforest on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 16th most-seen of the 35 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and July
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Common Porpoise in Great Bear Rainforest on a given day, against under 5% in February–March and December, the lowest months. Those are among Great Bear Rainforest's driest months, with about 130 mm of rain a month against 480 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.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Common Porpoise sightings, Great Bear Rainforest ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Acadia National Park (United States, about 20%) and Wadden Sea National Park (Germany, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Common Porpoise is recorded against all the mammals logged in Great Bear Rainforest (28 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
