Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small porpoise, Phocoena sinus, found off California

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a short porpoise that lives in the Gulf of California; an endangered species

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Spanish vaquita ("little cow"), diminutive of vaca ("cow")

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Examples

  • With a body less than 1.5 m long, the vaquita is the smallest living cetacean (the order Cetacea consists of whales, dolphins and porpoises).

    Archive 2006-12-01 2006

  • The vaquita is endemic to the north-western corner of the Gulf of California (north of 30º45'N and mainly west of 114º20'W), an area rich and diverse in marine mammals.

    Archive 2006-12-01 2006

  • To find out where the threatened porpoise called the vaquita hangs out, scientists are about to begin underwater acoustic monitoring by dragging microphones off the back of a sailboat.

    High Tech Goes Wild 2008

  • To find out where the threatened porpoise called the vaquita hangs out, scientists are about to begin underwater acoustic monitoring by dragging microphones off the back of a sailboat.

    High Tech Goes Wild 2008

  • The vaquita, which is also the world's smallest cetacean, is emblematic of the plight of other dolphins and porpoises around the world, say campaigners.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

  • The vaquita, which is also the world's smallest cetacean, is emblematic of the plight of other dolphins and porpoises around the world, say campaigners.

    BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition 2009

  • The vaquita, which is also the world's smallest cetacean, is emblematic of the plight of other dolphins and porpoises around the world, say campaigners.

    BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition 2009

  • The vaquita, which is also the world's smallest cetacean, is emblematic of the plight of other dolphins and porpoises around the world, say campaigners.

    BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition 2009

  • The vaquita, which is also the world's smallest cetacean, is emblematic of the plight of other dolphins and porpoises around the world, say campaigners.

    BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition 2009

  • Though protected, totoaba (above), as well as the small porpoise known as the vaquita (below), fall prey to fishing nets in the Gulf of California - just another factor stifling the recovery of both species.

    Mongabay.com News 2008

  • The gillnets used to catch totoaba also entangle the endemic vaquita (Phocoena sinus), the world’s smallest porpoise.

    ‘Cocaine of the seas’ — how a luxury food is wreaking ecological mayhem Jo Chandler 2024

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