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What Is The Most Endangered Animal Vaquita

Written By Tuesday, July 5, 2022 Add Comment Edit

Species of porpoise

Vaquita

Temporal range: Holocene

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[1]

Vaquita4 Olson NOAA.jpg
Vaquita size.svg
Size compared to an average man

Conservation condition


Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.i)[ii]

CITES Appendix I (CITES)[three]

Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Society: Artiodactyla
Infraorder: Cetacea
Family: Phocoenidae
Genus: Phocoena
Species:

P. sinus

Binomial proper name
Phocoena sinus

Norris & McFarland, 1958
Cetacea range map Vaquita.PNG
Vaquita range

The vaquita ( və-KEE-tə; Phocoena sinus) is a species of porpoise endemic to the northern end of the Gulf of California in Baja California, Mexico. Averaging 150 cm (4.9 ft) (females) or 140 cm (4.six ft) (males) in length, it is the smallest of all living cetaceans. The species is currently on the brink of extinction, and currently listed equally Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red Listing; the steep decline in affluence is primarily due to bycatch in gillnets from the illegal totoaba fishery.[4] [five]

Taxonomy [edit]

The vaquita was defined as a species by ii zoologists, Kenneth South. Norris and William N. McFarland, in 1958 after studying the morphology of skull specimens found on the beach.[6] It was not until nearly thirty years later, in 1985, that fresh specimens allowed scientists to describe their external appearance fully.[vii]

The genus Phocoena comprises four species of porpoise, most of which inhabit littoral waters (the spectacled porpoise is more oceanic). The vaquita is nigh closely related to Burmeister's porpoise (Phocoena spinipinnis) and less so to the spectacled porpoise (Phocoena dioptrica), two species limited to the Southern Hemisphere. Their ancestors are idea to have moved n across the equator more than ii.five meg years ago during a menses of cooling in the Pleistocene.[7] Genome sequencing from an individual captured in 2017 indicates that the ancestral vaquitas had already gone through a major population bottleneck in the past, which may explain why the few remaining individuals are still good for you despite the very low population size.[8]

"Vaquita" is Spanish for "little cow".[9]

Description [edit]

Feature dark center rings

The smallest living species of cetacean, the vaquita can be easily distinguished from any other species in its range. It has a minor body with an unusually tall, triangular dorsal fin, a rounded head, and no distinguished beak. The coloration is mostly grey with a darker back and a white ventral field. Prominent black patches environment its lips and eyes.[vii] Sexual dimorphism is apparent in trunk size, with mature females being longer than males and having larger heads and wider flippers.[seven] [ten] Females reach a maximum size of about 150 cm (4.ix ft), while males reach about 140 cm (4.6 ft).[7] Dorsal fin top is greater in males than in females.[x] They are likewise known to weigh effectually 27 kg (60 lb) to 68 kg (150 lb). This makes them one of the smallest species in the porpoise family unit. [11]

Distribution and habitat [edit]

Vaquita habitat is restricted to a small portion of the upper Gulf of California (also called the Sea of Cortez), making this the smallest range of any marine mammal species. They live in shallow, turbid waters of less than 150 1000 (490 ft) depth.[five] Vaquitas inhabit murky warm waters within 26 kilometres (16 mi) of the shoreline since there is high food availability and a strong tidal mix. Since they are able to survive in shallow waters, their triangle-shaped dorsal fin sticks out above water and they are usually mistaken for dolphins (Middle for Biological Diversity, north.d).

Diet [edit]

Vaquitas are generalists, foraging on a variety of demersal fish species, crustaceans, and squids, though benthic fish such as grunts and croakers make up well-nigh of the diet.[five]

[edit]

Vaquitas are generally seen alone or in pairs, often with a calf, just have been observed in small groups of up to 10 individuals.[v]

Picayune is known about the life history of this species. Life expectancy is estimated at virtually 20 years and historic period of sexual maturity is somewhere between 3 and 6 years of age.[12] While an initial assay of stranded vaquitas estimated a two-year calving interval, recent sightings data suggest that vaquitas can reproduce annually.[12] [13] It is thought that vaquitas have a polygynous mating organization in which males compete for females. This competition is evidenced past the presence of sexual dimorphism (females are larger than males), small group sizes, and large testes (bookkeeping for nearly 3% of body mass).[12]

Population condition [edit]

Because the vaquita was but fully described in the late 1980s, historical affluence is unknown.[14] The commencement comprehensive vaquita survey throughout their range took place in 1997 and estimated a population of 567 individuals.[fifteen] By 2007 abundance was estimated to have dropped to 150.[16] Population abundance every bit of 2018 was estimated at less than xix individuals.[17] Given the continued rate of bycatch and low reproductive output from a small population, it is estimated that there are fewer than 10 vaquitas live as of Feb 2022.[eighteen] [17] [xix]

Reproduction [edit]

Vaquitas reach sexual maturity from three to six years erstwhile. Vaquitas accept synchronous reproduction, suggesting that calving span is greater than a year. Their pregnancies terminal from 10 to xi months. Vaquitas requite nativity nearly every other yr to a unmarried calf. They give birth between the months of February and Apr.[20] [21]

Threats [edit]

Fisheries bycatch [edit]

A vaquita swims in the foreground with fishing boats in the altitude

The drastic decline in vaquita abundance is the result of fisheries bycatch in commercial and illegal gillnets, including fisheries targeting the at present-endangered Totoaba, shrimp, and other bachelor fish species.[four] [xiv] Despite government regulations, including a fractional gillnet ban in 2015 and establishment of a permanent gillnet exclusion zone in 2017, illegal totaoba angling remains prevalent in vaquita habitat, and as a result the population has continued to decline.[17] The vaquita is the about critically endangered marine mammal, with fewer than 19 remaining in the wild.[22] First described in 1958, the vaquita has been in rapid turn down for more than 20 years resulting from inadvertent deaths due to the increasing use of large-mesh gillnets.[22]

In 2021, the Mexican authorities eliminated a "no tolerance" zone in the Upper Gulf of California and opened it upwardly to fishing.[23]

Other threats [edit]

Given their proximity to the coast, vaquitas are exposed to habitat alteration and pollution from runoff. Bycatch is the single biggest threat to the survival of the few remaining vaquita.[19] Exposure to toxic compounds has also had a deleterious effect on vaquitas.[24]

Predation on vaquita by sharks has also been reported from fishermen, who take seen whole or parts of individuals in the stomachs of caught sharks, although no quantitative assay is readily available.[25] [26] However, the biggest threat nonetheless towards vaquita are fisheries. Northern line-fishing fleets have had an indirect positive touch mainly on marine mammals, because fishing on predators like sharks reduces its predatory negative impact on those groups. Although the predation of sharks towards vaquita practice result in a turn down in population and is seen every bit an alternate threat, northern fishing fleets as well negatively touch this small marine mammal because the negative influence of incidental take hold of is greater than the positive influence of predation reduction by shark fisheries.[26]

Attempts to beginning a population in captivity take proved to be more threatening to the population than helpful. A November 2017 effort ended upward traumatizing and killing one female person vaquita, likewise as invoking unnecessary stress onto a juvenile.[27]

Conservation condition [edit]

The vaquita is listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Blood-red List.[five] It is considered the most endangered marine mammal in the globe.[17] [5]

The species is too protected under the Us Endangered Species Act, the Mexican Official Standard NOM-059 (Norma Oficial Mexicana), and Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild animals and Flora (CITES).[28]

Conservation efforts [edit]

The Mexican government, international committees, scientists, and conservation groups have recommended and implemented plans to help reduce the rate of bycatch, enforce gillnet bans, and promote population recovery.

Mexico launched a program in 2008 called Footstep-VAQUITA in an effort to enforce the gillnet ban in the Biosphere Reserve, allow fishermen to swap their gillnets for vaquita-safe fishing gear, and provide economical back up to fishermen for surrendering angling permits and pursuing culling livelihoods.[29] Despite the progress made with legal fishermen, hundreds of poachers continued to fish in the exclusion zone.

With continued illegal totoaba fishing, which is largely motivated by sales to the Chinese market where it is used in traditional medicine, and uncontrolled bycatch of vaquitas, the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita (CIRVA) recommended that some vaquitas be removed from the loftier-density fishing area and be relocated to protected bounding main pens. This effort, called VaquitaCPR,[thirty] captured 2 vaquitas in 2017: 1 was later released and the other died shortly afterward capture after both suffered from shock.[31]

Local and international conservation groups, including Museo de Ballena and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, are working with the Mexican Navy to notice fishing in the Refuge Expanse and remove illegal gillnets.[29] In March 2020, the U.South. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announced a ban on imported Mexican shrimp and other seafood caught in vaquita habitat in the northern Gulf of California.[32]

In response to the dire circumstances facing the vaquita as by-grab of the illegal totoaba trade, in 2017 Earth League International (ELI) commenced an investigation and intelligence gathering performance chosen Operation Faux Gilt, during which the entire illicit totoaba maw (swim bladder) international supply chain, from Mexico to China, has been mapped and researched. Thanks to the confidential data that ELI shared with the Mexican regime, in Nov 2020, a series of of import arrests were fabricated in Mexico.[33]

To date, efforts have been unsuccessful in solving the circuitous socioeconomic and ecology bug that affect vaquita conservation and the greater Gulf of California ecosystem. Necessary activity includes habitat protection, resource management, didactics, fisheries enforcement, alternative livelihoods for fishermen, and raising awareness of the vaquita and associated issues.[5]

The Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) announced on Feb 27, 2021, that it may reduce the protected expanse for the vaquita in the Sea of Cortés every bit in that location are just ten of the porpoises left and it may never recuperate its historical range.[34]

Consumers [edit]

Roughly eighty% of shrimp defenseless in the northern stop of the Gulf of California, which has a high aquatic mammal bycatch rate, is consumed in the The states. Equally such, U.s.a. consumers of this shrimp are likely contributing to the Vaquita extinction crunch. The Marine Animal Protection Act of 1972, which forbids foreign fishers from exporting seafood with high levels of marine mammal bycatch, may allow for better efforts to preserve endangered vaquitas.[35]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Phocoena sinus". Fossilworks Database. John Alory. Retrieved 17 December 2021 – via fossilworks.org.
  2. ^ Rojas-Bracho, L.; Taylor, B.L. (2017). "Phocoena sinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T17028A50370296. doi:10.2305/IUCN.United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland.2017-2.RLTS.T17028A50370296.en . Retrieved nineteen November 2021.
  3. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org . Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b Rojas-Bracho, Lorenzo; Reeves, Randall R. (3 July 2013). "Vaquitas and gillnets: United mexican states's ultimate cetacean conservation challenge". Endangered Species Enquiry. 21 (1): 77–87. doi:10.3354/esr00501. ISSN 1863-5407.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Taylor, Barbara; Rojas-Bracho, Lorenzo (20 July 2017). "IUCN Ruby Listing of Threatened Species: Vaquita". IUCN Red Listing of Threatened Species . Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  6. ^ Norris, Kenneth S.; McFarland, William North. (20 February 1958). "A New Harbor Porpoise of the Genus Phocoena from the Gulf of California". Journal of Mammalogy. 39 (1): 22–39. doi:10.2307/1376606. ISSN 0022-2372. JSTOR 1376606.
  7. ^ a b c d east Brownell, Robert Fifty.; Findley, Lloyd T.; Vidal, Omar; et al. (1987). "External Morphology and Pigmentation of the Vaquita, Phocoena Sinus (cetacea: Mammalia)". Marine Mammal Science. 3 (1): 22–30. doi:ten.1111/j.1748-7692.1987.tb00149.x. ISSN 1748-7692.
  8. ^ Casanueva, Agustín B. Ávila (eleven July 2020). "Secuenciar el genoma de la vaquita marina es la esperanza para su conservación". TecReview (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Saying Adios to the Vaquita". Saving World | Encyclopedia Britannica. 11 April 2011. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
  10. ^ a b Torre, Jorge; Vidal, Omar; Brownell, Robert L. (Oct 2014). "Sexual dimorphism and developmental patterns in the external morphology of the vaquita, Phocoena sinus". Marine Mammal Science. 30 (4): 1285–1296. doi:10.1111/mms.12106.
  11. ^ Fisheries, NOAA. "Vaquita." NOAA, 29 Dec. 2021, https://world wide web.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/vaquita.
  12. ^ a b c Hohn, A. A.; Read, A. J.; Fernandez, S.; Vidal, O.; Findley, L. T. (1996). "Life history of the vaquita, Phocoena sinus (Phocoenidae, Cetacea)". Journal of Zoology. 239 (2): 235–251. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1996.tb05450.x. ISSN 1469-7998.
  13. ^ Taylor, Barbara 50.; Wells, Randall South.; Olson, Paula A.; et al. (2019). "Probable annual calving in the vaquita, Phocoena sinus: A new hope?". Marine Mammal Science. 35 (4): 1603–1612. doi:ten.1111/mms.12595. ISSN 1748-7692. S2CID 91403217.
  14. ^ a b Rojas‐Bracho, Lorenzo; Reeves, Randall R.; Jaramillo‐Legorreta, Armando (2006). "Conservation of the vaquita Phocoena sinus". Mammal Review. 36 (3): 179–216. doi:x.1111/j.1365-2907.2006.00088.ten. ISSN 1365-2907.
  15. ^ Jaramillo‐Legorreta, Armando M.; Rojas‐Bracho, Lorenzo; Gerrodette, Tim (1999). "A New Abundance Gauge for Vaquitas: Beginning Step for Recovery1". Marine Mammal Science. 15 (iv): 957–973. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.1999.tb00872.ten. ISSN 1748-7692.
  16. ^ Jaramillo-Legorreta, Armando; Rojas-Bracho, Lorenzo; Brownell, Robert L.; et al. (15 November 2007). "Saving the Vaquita: Immediate Action, Not More than Data". Conservation Biology. 21 (6): 071117012342001––. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00825.x. ISSN 0888-8892. PMID 18173491.
  17. ^ a b c d Jaramillo-Legorreta, Armando Thousand.; Cardenas-Hinojosa, Gustavo; Nieto-Garcia, Edwyna; et al. (2019). "Decline towards extinction of United mexican states's vaquita porpoise (Phocoena sinus)". Purple Society Open Science. vi (seven): 190598. Bibcode:2019RSOS....690598J. doi:10.1098/rsos.190598. PMC6689580. PMID 31417757.
  18. ^ Catechism, Gabrielle (12 February 2022). "The tiny vaquita porpoise at present numbers less than 10. Can they be saved?". The Guardian . Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Report of the Eleventh meeting of the Comité Internacional para la Recuperación de la Vaquita (CIRVA)" (PDF). iucn-csg.org. February 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020. ...analysis indicated that but about x vaquitas remained alive in 2018 (with a 95% run a risk of the true value being between six and 22).
  20. ^ Fisheries, NOAA (twenty October 2021). "Vaquita | NOAA Fisheries". NOAA . Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  21. ^ Hohn, A. A.; Read, A. J.; Fernandez, S.; Vidal, O.; Findley, L. T. (June 1996). "Life history of the vaquita,Phocoena sinus(Phocoenidae, Cetacea)". Journal of Zoology. 239 (2): 235–251. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1996.tb05450.ten. ISSN 0952-8369.
  22. ^ a b Morin, Phillip A.; Archer, Frederick I.; Avila, Catherine D.; Balacco, Jennifer R.; Bukhman, Yury V.; Chow, William; Fedrigo, Olivier; Formenti, Giulio; Fronczek, Julie A.; Fungtammasan, Arkarachai; Gulland, Frances M. D. (20 November 2020). "Reference genome and demographic history of the near endangered marine mammal, the vaquita". Molecular Environmental Resource. 21 (4): 1008–1020. doi:10.1111/1755-0998.13284. ISSN 1755-098X. PMC8247363. PMID 33089966.
  23. ^ "'Mismanaged to death': Mexico opens up sole vaquita habitat to fishing". Mongabay Environmental News. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  24. ^ Lam, Su Shiung; Chew, Kit Wayne; Prove, Pau Loke; et al. (i November 2020). "Environmental management of 2 of the world's most endangered marine and terrestrial predators: Vaquita and cheetah". Environmental Research. 190: 109966. Bibcode:2020ER....190j9966L. doi:10.1016/j.envres.2020.109966. ISSN 0013-9351. PMID 32829186. S2CID 221282339.
  25. ^ Torre, Jorge; Vidal, Omar; Brownell, Robert L. (22 January 2014). "Sexual dimorphism and developmental patterns in the external morphology of the vaquita, Phocoena sinus". Marine Mammal Scientific discipline. thirty (4): 1285–1296. doi:10.1111/mms.12106. ISSN 0824-0469.
  26. ^ a b Díaz-Uribe, J. Gabriel; Arreguín-Sánchez, Francisco; Lercari-Bernier, Diego; et al. (Apr 2012). "An integrated ecosystem trophic model for the N and Central Gulf of California: An alternative view for endemic species conservation". Ecological Modelling. 230: 73–91. doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.01.009. ISSN 0304-3800.
  27. ^ Pennisi, Elizabeth (November 2017). "Update: After decease of captured vaquita, conservationists phone call off rescue effort".
  28. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org . Retrieved 14 Jan 2022.
  29. ^ a b "Vaquita". iucn-csg.org. IUCN – SSC Cetacean Specialist Group. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  30. ^ "Rescue Efforts". VaquitaCPR.org. 2019. Retrieved xiv July 2021.
  31. ^ Rojas-Bracho, 50; Gulland, FMD; Smith, CR; et al. (xi January 2019). "A field endeavour to capture critically endangered vaquitas Phocoena sinus for protection from entanglement in illegal gillnets". Endangered Species Research. 38: xi–27. doi:10.3354/esr00931. ISSN 1863-5407.
  32. ^ "U.S. Government Expands Mexican Seafood Ban to Salve Vaquita Porpoise". NRDC.org . Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  33. ^ "Vaquita: World League International'due south investigation triggers arrests". earthleagueinternational.org. Earth League International. 28 Nov 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.
  34. ^ "Mexico may reduce protection area for endangered porpoise". news.yahoo.com. AP. 27 February 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  35. ^ Dunch, Victoria (1 August 2019). "Saving the vaquita i bite at a time: The missing office of the shrimp consumer in vaquita conservation". Marine Pollution Bulletin. 145: 583–586. doi:ten.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.043. ISSN 0025-326X. PMID 31590827. S2CID 198269466.

Further reading [edit]

  • Alcántara, A. (December 2017). "Vaquita: The Business organisation of Extinction (article and 25-min. documentary video)". CNN. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  • Bessesen, Brooke (September 2018). Vaquita: Scientific discipline, Politics, and Law-breaking in the Ocean of Cortez. Island Printing. ISBN978-1-61091-932-6.
  • Vance, E. (August 2017). "Adieu, Vaquita: How Corruption and Poverty Doom Endangered Species". Scientific American. 317 (2): 36–45. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0817-36. PMID 29565922.
  • Einhorn, Catrin; Ramos, Fred (23 November 2021). "Hither'south the Next Creature That Could Become Extinct". The New York Times . Retrieved 23 November 2021.

External links [edit]

To learn more about the vaquita and conservation efforts visit:

  • ¡Viva Vaquita! – a not-profit organisation dedicated to preventing the extinction of the vaquita
  • Vaquita fact canvass from NOAA Fisheries
  • The Vaquita and the Totoaba – web site for the Wild Lens Collective of moving-picture show makers' outreach campaign well-nigh the vaquita's extinction crunch
    • "Souls of the Vermilion Sea", a 30-minute documentary about the local community where the vaquita is constitute and why its population has declined
    • "Sea of Shadows", a full-length 2019 documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio on the effort to rescue the vaquita from extinction
  • Voices in the Sea – sounds of the vaquita
  • VaquitaMarina.org, a Baja California Sur-based vaquita conservation group
  • Performance Milagro III, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society'due south operation to protect the vaquita
  • Porpoise Conservation Society
  • Gild for Marine Mammalogy
  • Operation False Gold, [Earth League International]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaquita

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