Finless porpoise
Finless Porpoise · the smiling whale
Neophocaena asiaeorientalis sunameri
A small porpoise with no dorsal fin, a rounded head, and upturned mouth corners that earn it the nickname ‘smiling whale.’ It lives in the shallow coastal waters of the West and South Seas and is the most widely distributed dolphin in Korea. Bycatch is its greatest threat.
The finless ‘smiling whale’
A small porpoise 1.5–1.9 m long with no dorsal fin, a rounded head, and upturned mouth corners that give it the nickname ‘smiling whale.’ It has the widest distribution of any dolphin in Korea.
Shallow coastal waters of the West and South Seas
It inhabits shallow coastal and inshore waters. In Korea it lives mainly in the West Sea, along the South Sea coast, and in the southern East Sea. Largely due to bycatch, its population fell by more than half, from about 36,000 in 2004 to about 17,000 in 2016.
Where to encounter the finless porpoise
It ranges mainly along the West Sea and the South and East Sea coasts, but it is not a species divers typically observe underwater. Bycatch is its greatest threat, and it is approached mainly from a conservation and ecological perspective.
Bycatch is its greatest threat, and the population has fallen by more than half (about 1,100 deaths per year on average). It is a conservation and ecological flagship species.
Korea’s most widely
distributed dolphin
Korea's most widespread porpoise.