Have you ever heard anyone say Porpoise and then wonder what they mean by it. At first it sounds like someone is saying the word ‘purpose’ is a funny way but this word is actually a species of fish which is related to the dolphins and the whales. A Porpoise is a small dolphin like fish which many may confuse as just a baby dolphin, in fact, many fishermen and sailors use the word to describe a small dolphin when they see one. The main differences between a Porpoise and a dolphin is the size as the latter is much larger than the previous and then there is another difference as well as their teeth are different.
Whereas the smaller of the dolphins family member has spade shaped teeth the dolphin has conical teeth and that can only be told when one tries to feed a Porpoise. The other differences are so minute that they go unnoticed, one of them is the smaller beak that can be easily confused with a deformed dolphin perhaps. In the end any layman would not be able to tell the difference between the two unless they knew this information.
It is believed that the dolphin and whale family evolved from the hoofed mammals that roamed the earth a long long time ago. And when these hoofed mammals entered the oceans they evolved into these different species. The word is actually a mixture of medieval Latin for the word of pig ‘porcus’ and the word for fish ‘piscus’.
Porpoise
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