In a cramped imaging lab at Florida Atlantic University, a 58-year-old porpoise skeleton is quietly making history — again.

The specimen, a female vaquita collected in 1966 by a graduate student named Robert L. Brownell Jr., was recently scanned using medical CT and micro-CT imaging technologies, transforming brittle bones into a detailed 3D digital archive. Brownell, now a senior biologist with NOAA Fisheries' Southwest Fisheries Science Center, was on hand to see his decades-old discovery take on new life. "By combining advanced imaging technologies with open-access data sharing, the effort not only safeguards a valuable record of one of the planet's most endangered marine mammals, but also makes that information accessible to anyone," said Jamie Knaub, the FAU Ph.D. candidate who led the scanning effort.

The vaquita (Phocoena sinus) — Spanish for "little cow" — holds the grim distinction of being the world's smallest cetacean and its most endangered marine mammal. Found only in the shallow, murky waters of Mexico's northern Gulf of California, these elusive porpoises measure just five feet (1.5 meters) in length and were unknown to science until the latter half of the 20th century. Today, scientists estimate only a handful remain. Their decline has been driven almost entirely by accidental drowning in gillnets set illegally for totoaba, a large fish whose swim bladder commands high prices on black markets in Asia.

Working with colleagues from the San Diego Natural History Museum, SeaWorld California, and NOAA Fisheries, the team employed an intricate multi-scale imaging workflow. Medical CT scanners captured the skeleton's overall architecture, while high-resolution micro-CT systems — capable of revealing structures measured in microns, smaller than the width of a human hair — preserved microscopic skeletal details invisible to the naked eye. The resulting interactive 3D models represent one of the most comprehensive digital anatomical records of the species ever assembled.

"This project required an unusually intricate imaging workflow to capture the vaquita skeleton at multiple scales, from whole-bone structure down to microscopic internal detail," said Marianne E. Porter, Ph.D., senior author and a professor in FAU's Department of Biological Sciences.

The team hopes the digital archive will serve dual purposes: preserving scientific knowledge of the species and enabling the production of physically accurate replicas for museums, classrooms, and conservation programs worldwide. "The project will enable the production of scientifically accurate replicas for museums, classrooms and educational programs, helping to raise awareness and support conservation efforts for a species now teetering on the edge of extinction," Knaub said.

With the vaquita's survival hanging by a thread, researchers say this digital preservation effort offers a grim but valuable insurance policy — ensuring that even if the species vanishes from the ocean, it will endure in digital form, ready to teach future generations what was lost.