Neophocaena asiaeorientalis (Pilleri and Gihr, 1972) —Narrow-ridged Finless Porpoise

Neomeris asiaeorientalis Pilleri and Gihr, 1972 p.126; Type locality- Yangtze River, China.

Delphinus melas Schlegel, 1841 p.32; Type locality- off coast of Japan.

Neomeris kurrachiensis Murray, 1884 p.351; Type locality- Kurrachee (Karachi), Pakistan.

Neophocaena phocaenoides: Kuroda, 1938 p.19; Kim et al., 2000 p.112; Kim, 2004 p.253.

Neomeris phocaenoides: Won, 1958 p.435; Won, 1967 p.86; Won, 1968 p.226.

Range: Narrow-ridged finless porpoises inhabit coastal waters between 5 and 15 km from the coast of the Korean Peninsula and nearby islands (Fig. 108). This species rarely occurs West of 124? 30ꞌ E (Choi et al. 2010). The peak observation period lasts from March to June in the waters of Korea. Although rarely observed, N. asiaeorientalis can inhabit freshwater streams such as the Amnok, Han and Nakdong rivers (Kim 2004).

Remarks: N. asiaeorientalis was formerly classified as a subspecies of N. phocaenoides but was elevated to the species level based on morphological and genetic differences (Wang et al. 2008). Korean populations belong to the Subspecies N. a. sunameri Pilleri and Gihr, 1975, the East Asian finless porpoise or sunameri.

Conservation status: CITES listed the species on Appendix I (under N. phocaenoides). The South Korean government designated N. asiaeorientalis a Protected Marine Species in 2016 due to a severe decline in recent years.