The vaquita first became known to the scientific community after the discovery of a bleached skull in 1950.
The vaquita first became known to the scientific community after the discovery of a bleached skull on the beach north of Punta San Felipe in Baja California Norte, Mexico on March 18th, 1950. The following year, two additional skulls were found and these three skull specimens formed the basis for the naming and description of a new species of porpoise, Phocoena sinus.
• Image | © Uko Gorter, NOAA Fisheries West Coast, Some Rights Reserved (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
• Sources | (Barlow, Rojas-Bracho, Piña, & Mesnick, 2010; NOAA, 2008; Norris & McFarland, 1958)
