CreatureData

Vaquita

Phocoena sinus Norris & McFarland, 1958

CRCritically Endangeredwhales and dolphins

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) is a mammal in the whales and dolphins group, belonging to the order Cetacea, suborder Odontoceti and family Phocoenidae. It is a marine piscivore with a carnivore trophic level and a cathemeral activity pattern.

Vaquita (Phocoena sinus)
Photo: Paula Olson , NOAA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the vaquita

Adults have a representative body mass of 42.5 kg, with the highest value reported at 44.06 kg, placing the vaquita in the large size class. The vaquita is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, an IUCN threatened category.

Weight
42.5 kg – 44.1 kgsrc for Weight
Length
up to 1.5 msrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Piscivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Gestation
323 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
4.5 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
0.5src for Litters or clutches a year
Active
Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
Lifestyle
Marinesrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Photos of the vaquita

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Vaquita (Phocoena sinus)
Paula Olson , NOAA · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the vaquita live?

Not recorded

What is the vaquita?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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. Reaching a maximum body length of 150 cm (4.9 ft) (females) or 140 cm (4.6 ft) (males), it is the smallest of all living cetaceans. The species is currently on the brink of extinction, and is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List; the steep decline in abundance is primarily due to bycatch in gillnets from the illegal totoaba fishery.

From the Wikipedia article “Vaquita” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vaquita&oldid=1382480031), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the vaquita endangered?

The vaquita is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species.

How is the vaquita classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderCetacea
  5. familyPhocoenidae
  6. genusPhocoena
  7. SpeciesPhocoena sinus Norris & McFarland, 1958
Other names and names in other languages (38)
  • ChochitoEnglish
  • CochitoEnglish
  • Gulf of California harbor porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf of California harbour porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf of California harbour porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf of California porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf of California porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf of California porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf porpoiseEnglish
  • Gulf porpoiseEnglish
  • Vaquita Gulf porpoiseEnglish
  • فاكيتاArabic
  • sviňucha kalifornskáCzech
  • GolftümmlerGerman
  • Kalifornischer SchweinswalGerman
  • Pazifischer HafenschweinswalGerman
  • cochitoSpanish
  • marsopa de Golfo de CaliforniaSpanish
  • Marsopa vaquitaSpanish
  • vaquita marinaSpanish
  • bajanpyöriäinenFinnish
  • KalifornianpyöriäinenFinnish
  • marsouin du golfe de CalifornieFrench
  • Toniña do golfo de MéxicoGalician
  • ואקיטהHebrew
  • דולפין המפרץHebrew
  • Focena del golfo di californiaItalian
  • kogashira nezumi irukaJapanese
  • コガシラネズミイルカJapanese
  • GulfniseNorwegian Bokmål
  • CalifornianiseNorwegian Bokmål
  • Californische BruinvisDutch
  • morświn kalifornijskiPolish
  • Калифорнийская морская свиньяRussian
  • kaliforniyskaya morskaya svinyaRussian
  • Kaliforniya musuruTurkish
  • Vakita (Körfez Muturu)Turkish
  • 小頭鼠海豚Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the vaquita

Other species in the same genus Phocoena.

CompareVaquita vs Harbour porpoiseVaquita vs Spectacled porpoiseVaquita vs Burmeister's porpoise

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the vaquita?

The vaquita is a marine mammal in the whales and dolphins group, classified in the order Cetacea and the family Phocoenidae.

How heavy is the vaquita?

Adult vaquitas have a representative body mass of 42.5 kg, and the highest value reported by our sources is 44.06 kg.

What does the vaquita eat?

The vaquita is a piscivore, with a carnivore trophic level.

Is the vaquita endangered?

Yes. The vaquita is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List, which is an IUCN threatened category.

How many young does the vaquita have?

The vaquita has 1 young per litter, at a rate of 0.5 litters per year, after a gestation period of 322.7 days.

Who named the vaquita?

The vaquita, Phocoena sinus, was named by Norris & McFarland, 1958.

When does the vaquita reach sexual maturity?

The vaquita's age at sexual maturity is given as 137 days.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Vaquita (Phocoena sinus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/vaquita

MLA

“Vaquita (Phocoena sinus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/vaquita.

BibTeX
@misc{vaquita_2026,
  title = {Vaquita (Phocoena sinus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/vaquita},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}