Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Balaenidae (/ b ə ˈ l ɛ n ɪ d eɪ,-d iː /) is a family of whales of the parvorder Mysticeti (baleen whales) that contains mostly fossil taxa and two living genera: the right whale (genus Eubalaena), and the closely related bowhead whale (genus Balaena).
Balaenidae consists of two genera: Eubalaena (right whales) and Balaena (the bowhead whale, B. mysticetus). Balaenidae was thought to have consisted of only one genus until studies done through the early 2000s reported that bowhead whales and right whales are morphologically (different skull shape) and phylogenically different.
Today, the bowhead whale occupies a monotypic genus, separate from the right whales, as proposed by the work of John Edward Gray in 1821. [6] For the next 180 years, the family Balaenidae was the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorized the three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one ...
Balaena is a genus of cetacean (whale) in the family Balaenidae. Balaena is considered a monotypic genus, as it has only a single extant species, the bowhead whale (B. mysticetus).
It does not migrate but remains within this area year-round. Little is known about the feeding behavior of Rice's whales, but data from a tagged individual revealed a diel vertical diving pattern , in which the whale spends most of the day feeding at or near the seafloor at depths of up to 271 meters (889 ft) and night at the surface.
The point where a node branches off is analogous to an evolutionary branching – the diagram can be read left-to-right, much like a timeline. The following cladogram of the family Balaenidae serves to illustrate the current scientific consensus as to the relationships between the North Atlantic right whale and the other members of its family.
Through the 19th and 20th centuries, in fact, the family Balaenidae has been the subject of great taxonometric debate. Authorities have repeatedly recategorized the three populations of right whale plus the bowhead whale, as one, two, three or four species, either in a single genus or in two separate genera.
The southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena.Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20° and 60° south. [5]