VAQUITA

The Vaquita

In the murky waters of the Gulf of California, a small porpoise is making its final stand. The vaquita — Spanish for 'little cow' — is the world's most endangered marine mammal, and time is running out. With fewer than 10 individuals left, this diminutive creature faces extinction within months, not years. The killer? Illegal gillnets set for totoaba, a fish whose swim bladder fetches tens of thousands of dollars on the black market in China.

The vaquita's tragedy is uniquely human. These shy, dolphin-like porpoises — measuring just 1.5 meters — have been swimming these waters for millennia, utterly unaware that the same gulf that sustained them would become their graveyard. They've never harmed anyone. They eat small fish and crustaceans. They raise one calf every two years. And now, because of our appetite for a fish bladder falsely believed to have medicinal value, they will almost certainly be gone within our lifetime.

Scientists estimate that if gillnet fishing continues unabated, the vaquita could be extinct by 2025-2026 — a mere whisper before the void.