The world's most endangered marine mammal may number fewer than 10
The vaquita, a small porpoise found only in one corner of Mexico's Gulf of California, was first described from beach-found skulls by zoologists Kenneth Norris and William McFarland in 1958. It has never been hunted directly, but drowns in illegal gillnets set for an unrelated fish, the totoaba, whose swim bladder sells for a fortune on the black market. From roughly 570 individuals in 1997, the population has collapsed by over 90%, making it arguably the most endangered marine mammal alive.