Reproduction in the common porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) of the North Atlantic

Abstract

Examination of the reproductive organs from 137 Common porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the Gulf of St Lawrence, the Bay of Fundy and British waters has enabled observations to be made on reproductive events. Birth in Canadian waters occurs mainly in June and July: mating takes place from june to August . The evidence indicates that females do not become pregnant every year. Birth length is 80 to 90cm; juveniles attain a length of 100 to 110 cm after three to four months. Sexual maturity is reached at a length of about 133 cm in males and 145 cm in females, probably in their third or fourth year. The corpus luteum persists throughout gestation and retrogresses from their histological characteristics. One kind possesses much acellular material and is probably a corpus albicans gravitadionis; the other consists of a mass of obliterated vessels and is the remains either of a corpus luteum of an infertile ovulation or of a lutealized follicle. Evidence indicates that there is seasonal testicular activity, reaching a maximum during July and subsiding in late August.