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| Cetaceans - Whales, Dolphins,
and Porpoises Taxonomy of whales and dolphins |
Humpback Whales Fin Whale Minke Whale Sperm Whale Beaked Whales Pilot Whales
|
Order Cetacean
Whales, dolphins, and porpoises belong to the mammalian
order Cetacean. Cetaceans are mammals that spend their entire lives in
water. They do not come onto land to breed or mate.
A few have adapted to fresh water, but most live in the marine environment.
Cetaceans are carnivores. They may eat fish or crustaceans
or even larger animals.
Baleen Whales Suborder Mysticeti
The Baleen Whales lack teeth and instead have baleen plates which are fingernail like horny plates which hang from the upper jaw and are used to filter out small prey items when the mouth is closed. They have double nostrils or blow holes on top of their heads. There are four families of Mysticeti, two of which can be seen in the North Atlantic.
| Balaenidae | Right Whales, Bowhead Whales ( far north only) - no dorsal fin, no grooves in throat |
| Balenopteridae or Roquals | Humpback, Fin, Minke, Blue, Bryde's (pronounced Buda's ), Sei - dorsal fin, throat grooves |
| Eschrichtiidae | Gray Whales - now extirpated in North Atlantic. Common off the coast of California |
| Neobalaenidae | Pygmy Right Whales are found in the southern hemisphere only. |
Toothed Whales
Suborder
Odontoceti
These whales and dolphins all have
teeth of
some variety although not necessarily used for chewing.
They have one blow hole rather than two. 1994 Kinze,
Carl Charistian Marine Mammals of the North Atlantic
29
Eight families, 5 of which occur in the
North Atlantic.
| Dolphins Delphinidae |
There are at least 33 species
world wide. In the North Atlantic look for :
White-sided Dolphin, Common Dolphin, Bottle-nosed
Dolphin Subfamily Orcinae Blackfish and Killer Whales Small to medium sized species having a rounded head without a well-define beak. (29) Pilot Whales, Risso's Dolphin (? true dolphin), Killer Whales |
| Porpoises Phocoenidae |
Harbor Porpoise |
| Monodontidae | Beluga (Occasionally seen, primarily further north) and Narwhal (further north) |
| Beaked Whales Ziphiidae |
Well defined beak, dorsal fin behind small fins. Cuvier's Beaked Whale (seen on offshore trips). Look for Sowerby's Beaked Whale, Blainville's Bealed Whale, True's Beaked Whale, and Northern Bottlenose Whale |
| Sperm Whale Physeteridae |
Seen frequently on offshore trips. Once on the Nantucket Shoals. |
Diving Sequence
At the surface whales breath in and blow out several times
before diving again. Behaviors on the surface and the way the
animals dives are called the "Diving sequence" and varies by
species and individuals.
Some whale bend their back, roll forward, and finally lift their tail flukes above the water as part of the dive. This behavior is typical of the Humpback Whale. Other whales that lift their tail flukes are: Blue, Bowhead, Right, and Sperm Whales. Whales that do not lift the flukes are: Fin, Minke, Beaked, Pilot Whales.
| Spyhop | Animal lifts head from the water in order to look around but does not leap from the water. Common behavior of Gray Whales in quiet lagoons. |
| Bow- Ride | Animals ride in the bow wave of a moving boat. Usually associated with dolphins, the author has seen a Minke Whale bow riding. |
| Leap or Breach | Animal leaps out of the water. Most often observed in dolphins which leap as part of swimming forward. Large whales may leap from the water and twist around falling back on their back. |
| Leap and Spin | Animals leaps out of the water and twists completely around before falling back. Spinner dolphins. |
| Flipper Slapping | Animal lolls on the surface, slapping the water with one flipper. Humpback Whales frequently slap their very long flippers. |
| Tail Slapping | Animals with head under water, slaps tail. Humpback Whales |
| Logging | Animal lies on the surface of the water and drifts passively with the water. Whale is not truly asleep. |
Schooling Behavior
When several animals swim together it is called a school or
more commonly with whales a pod. A pod may be a stable
group with a fixed core of animals or simply a loose group that
comes together for a time. Pods may be all one sex or
animals of a certain age.
The Humpback whale males are solitary feeders coming together with females only for mating. The males have a song to attract females. The mother and calf pair is the basic unit although you have several of these pairs feeding together.
Killer Whales have stable pods consisting of related females and their offspring of both sexes. The pods hunts cooperatively.
Dolphins sometimes swim in pods of 100 or
more animals.