Growth and Reproductive Activity of a Captive Female Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) from Japanese Water

This report describes growth and annual reproductivecycle of female harbour porpoise (Phocoenaphocoena) rescued from Japanese water in 2007. The maximum bodylength was 179 cm and body weight was 69.8 kg. The average daily foodconsumption was 7.0 kg (ranging 3.7 - 9.9 kg), 11.8% of the body weight. Inthis report, the porpoise was kept in 17 °C water annually and the blubber thicknessesshowed almost constant throughout the year (average 18 mm, range 13 - 22 mm).Therefore, we added new evidence to this hypothesis by showing that body weightand the blubber thickness do not fluctuate seasonally in fixed watertemperature. Serum progesterone level of the female showed five peaks fromSeptember to November, and each cycle lasted the average of 20.5 days. Suchresult indicates that harbour porpoise exhibits seasonal polyestrous activity.