Cetaceans

Page created: 951226 Last updated: 980401

Page maintainer: Wesley R. Elsberry
Photos by Diane J. Blackwood, Dr. William E. Evans, and Wesley R. Elsberry

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I have listed below most species of cetaceans. Links will follow under each species. The listing follows taxonomic lines, rather than alphabetized common names or something similar. If you know a common name, but not a scientific name, try using your browser's search function for the common name. The taxonomy comes from both Peter Evans' "Biology of Whales and Dolphins" and Leatherwood and Reeves' "Handbook of Whales and Dolphins". There are a few discrepancies between the two. I hope I haven't confused the state of taxonomy too badly here.

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I will generally put general resources at the top of any list of resources, and specialized resources lower down.

Phylum Chordata

The chordates include the vertebrates, which includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. To those involved in conservation of invertebrates, all vertebrate work looks like special attention to "charismatic megafauna".

Order Cetacea (whales & dolphins)

Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales)

Baleen whales capture prey items by straining water through a series of baleen plates in the mouth, which act as filters to collect the food items.

Family Balaenopteridae (rorquals)

Fast-swimming, streamlined, lunging feeders. These whales take in a large amount of water into an expanding buccal cavity, then expel the water through baleen to trap their prey.

Genus Balaenoptera

Species Balaenoptera acutorostrata ("Minke Whale")

Species Balaenoptera borealis ("Sei Whale")

Species Balaenoptera edeni ("Bryde's Whale")

Discovering Whales - Bryde's Whale

Species Balaenoptera musculus ("Blue Whale")

Species Balaenoptera physalus ("Fin Whale")

Genus Megaptera

Species Megaptera novaeangliae ("Humpback whale")

Family Balaenidae

Cruising, slow-moving, continuous filter feeders.

Genus Balaena

Species Balaena mysticetus ("Bowhead Whale")

Genus Eubalaena

Called "right whales" because they were the "right" whales for whaling in the days of sailing vessels (they swam slower than the speed of the boats and they floated after death). The rorquals, by contrast, could outpace the unassisted sailing vessels or their oar-powered longboats.

Species Eubalaena glacialis ("Northern Right Whale")

Species Eubalaena australis ("Southern Right Whale")

Genus Caperea

Species Caperea marginata ("Pygmy Right Whale")

Family Eschrichtidae

Genus Eschrichtius

Species Eschrichtius gibbosus ("Gray Whale")

Whales on the Net - Gray Whale Research

Suborder Odonticeti ("toothed whales")

Family Platanistidae

RIVER DOLPHINS
Platanistidae Family

Genus Platanista

Species Platanista gangetica ("Ganges Susu River Dolphin")

Species Platanista minor ("Indus Susu River Dolphin")

Genus Inia

Species Inia geoffrensis ("Boutu" or "Amazon River Dolphin")

Genus Lipotes

Species Lipotes vexillifer ("Beiji" or "Chinese Lake Dolphin")

The Beiji is highly endangered, with estimates of perhaps 100 animals left in the wild, and only 2 in captivity. The endangerment proceeds from habitat displacement, as the Yangtze River steadily becomes less livable for both prey items and predators.

Genus Pontoporia

Species Pontoporia blainvillei ("Franciscana" or "La Plata Dolphin")

Family Ziphidae

Beaked whales are deep-water, deep-diving species only rarely (and usually briefly, if still living) encountered by humans. Most species are known from one or a few specimens, many of those washed ashore in less than perfect condition. (One must attend a necropsy to fully appreciate how much less than perfect these specimens rapidly become.)

BEAKED WHALES

Genus Mesoplodon

Species Mesoplodon bidens ("North Sea Beaked Whale" or "Sowerby's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon layardii ("Strap-toothed Whale")

Species Mesoplodon europaeus ("Antillean beaked Whale" or "Gervais' Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon mirus ("True's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon grayi ("Camperdown Whale" or "Gray's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon densirostris ("Blainville's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon bowdoini ("Andrew's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon pacificus ("Longman's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon hectori ("Hector's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon ginkgodens ("Ginkgo-toothed Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon stejnegeri ("Stejneger's Beaked Whale")

Species Mesoplodon carlhubbsi ("Hubb's Beaked Whale")

Genus Ziphius

Species Ziphius cavirostris ("Cuvier's Beaked Whale")

Genus Berardius

Species Berardius bairdii ("Baird's Beaked Whale")

Species Berardius arnuxii ("Arnoux's Beaked Whale")

Genus Tasmacetus

Species Tasmacetus shepherdi ("Tasman Beaked Whale")

Genus Hyperoodon

Species Hyperoodon ampullatus ("Northern Bottlenose Whale")

Hyperoodon ampullatus

Species Hyperoodon planifrons ("Southern Bottlenose Whale")

Family Physeteridae

Genus Physeter

Species Physeter macrocephalus ("Sperm Whale")

Genus Kogia

Species Kogia breviceps ("Pygmy Sperm Whale")

Kogia breviceps

Species Kogia simus ("Dwarf Sperm Whale")

Kogia simus

Family Monodontidae

Genus Delphinapterous

Species Delphinapterous leucas ("White whale" or "Beluga Whale")

Also known as "sea canaries" for their sound mimicking capabilities, the white whales are sometimes found in large groups in northern waters.

Charlotte, The Vermont Whale. A paleontological find of an 11,000 year old white whale skeleton.
Delphinapterous leucas
4aABa3. First audiogram for marine mammals in the open ocean and at depth: Hea

Genus Monodon

Species Monodon monoceros ("Narwhal")

Family Stenidae

Genus Steno

Species Steno bredanensis ("Rough-Toothed Dolphin")

Genus Stenella

Species Stenella attenuata ("Pantropical Spotted Dolphin")

Species Stenella dubia ("Spotted Dolphin")

Species Stenella frontalis ("Atlantic Spotted Dolphin")

Species Stenella plagiodon ("Spotted Dolphin")

Species Stenella coeruleoalba ("Striped Dolphin")

Species Stenella longirostris ("Long-snouted Spinner Dolphin")

Species Stenella clymene ("Short-snouted Spinner" or "Clymene Dolphin")

Genus Sotalia

Species Sotalia fluviatilis ("Bouto Dolphin" or "Tucuxi")

Species Sotalia guianensis ("Guiana River Dolphin")

Species Sotalia chinensis ("Chinese White Dolphin")

The Whale-Watching-Web: Hong Kong

Species Sotalia borneensis ("Borneo White Dolphin")

Species Sotalia centiginosa ("Speckled Dolphin"))

Species Sotalia plumbea ("Plumbeous Dolphin")

Species Sotalia teuzzi ("Cameroon Dolphin")

Species Sotalia brasiliensis ("Rio de Janeiro Dolphin")

Family Delphinidae

Genus Delphinus

Species Delphinus delphis ("Common Dolphin")

Delphinus delphis

Genus Grampus

Species Grampus griseus ("Risso's Dolphin")

Genus Tursiops

Species Tursiops truncatus ("Bottlenose Dolphin")

TMMSN Atlantic bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Fact Sheet
FINSCAN Computer assisted Tursiops dorsal fin photoidentification. 1996-1998. TAMU. PI: Phil Levin. Other personnel: Diane Blackwood, Wesley Elsberry, Dave Weller. Using computer technology to automate the Defran & Weller photo-ID technique for large datasets.
TURSIOPS
Cole: A bottlenose dolphin
Dr. Sam H. Ridgway, The Dolphin Doctor