Florida can’t decide if its official saltwater mammal is a dolphin or a porpoise
States have a surprising number of official symbols. While most people would expect them to have an official motto, seal, and flag, there can also be a state beverage, muffin, soil, fossil, and poem, to name a few.
The animal kingdom seems to be well represented among state symbols, with Florida having everything from an official bird to an official reptile as well as both an official saltwater fish and official freshwater fish. The Sunshine State has just updated its official state bird and songbird to the American flamingo and the Florida scrub-jay, respectively.
However, Florida’s state saltwater mammal, seems to be a bit of an enigma. The same statute that says the manatee as the Florida state marine mammal also reads that “the porpoise, also commonly known as the dolphin, is hereby designated as the Florida state saltwater mammal.”
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There’s just one problem. Though people sometimes use them synonymously, dolphins and porpoises are two different animals. Dolphins and porpoises are both cetaceans, but porpoises are smaller and “chunkier” than their more well known mammalian counterparts. They also have different dorsal fins as well as differently shaped teeth, and dolphins are significantly more common. In Florida, porpoises are an uncommon sight.
Nevertheless, when people say dolphin or porpoise in Florida, they tend to mean the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates). In fact, the Florida Department of State operates under the assumption that the state saltwater mammal is the bottlenose dolphin. Also known as the common bottlenose dolphin, this famous species is highly intelligent, and exists in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans.
More broadly, Floridians must have a fondness for round aquatic species. Manatees (Trichechus manatus) are the state’s marine mammal—puffy-looking creatures known also as sea cows. And if the state ever decides to pick an official invasive species, we all know which infamous reptile should win that award.
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