vaquita

English

Vaquitas (Phocoena sinus)

Etymology

From Spanish vaquita (“little cow”), diminutive of vaca (“cow”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vəˈkiːtə/
• Rhymes: -iːtə
• Hyphenation: va‧qui‧ta

Noun

vaquita (plural vaquitas)

1. A critically endangered porpoise, the smallest of its kind, Phocoena sinus, endemic to the northern part of the Gulf of California, Mexico.
   • 2015 November 5, “Whale of a deal”, in New Scientist‎^[1], number 3098, page 6:

     THE world’s smallest porpoise may have a fighting chance. The vaquita might be saved from extinction by an agreement at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Portoroz, Slovenia, last week.
     Unique to the Gulf of California, the vaquita has seen its numbers collapse to 59 in 2015.

Synonyms

• (Phocoena sinus): cochito, desert porpoise, Gulf of California harbor porpoise, Gulf of California porpoise, gulf porpoise, vaquita marina, vaquita porpoise

Translations

Phocoena sinus

• Catalan: marsopa de Califòrnia (ca) f
• French: marsouin du Pacifique (fr) m
• German: Vaquita m, Golftümmler m, Kalifornischer Schweinswal m
• Japanese: 小頭鼠海豚, コガシラネズミイルカ (kogashira nezumiiruka)
• Russian: калифорни́йская морска́я свинья́ f (kaliforníjskaja morskája svinʹjá)

See also

• sea cow
• porpoise
• blue whale

Anagrams

• aquavit

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈkita/ [baˈki.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -ita
• Syllabification: va‧qui‧ta

Noun

vaquita f (plural vaquitas)

1. diminutive of vaca, little cow

   Synonym: vaquilla

Derived terms

• vaquita marina (“vaquita”)