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The family Balaenidae, the right whales, contains two genera and four species. All right whales have no ventral grooves; a distinctive head shape with a strongly arched, narrow rostrum, bowed lower jaw; lower lips that enfold the sides and front of the rostrum; and long, narrow, elastic baleen plates (up to nine times longer than wide) with fine baleen fringes.
The sperm whale or cachalot (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator.It is the only living member of the genus Physeter and one of three extant species in the sperm whale family, along with the pygmy sperm whale and dwarf sperm whale of the genus Kogia.
Species of the infraorder Cetacea A phylogenetic tree showing the relationships among cetacean families. [1]The evolution of cetaceans is thought to have begun in the Indian subcontinent from even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) 50 million years ago (mya) and to have proceeded over a period of at least 15 million years. [2]
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals.As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and porpoises.
Cetaceans are famous for their high intelligence, complex social behaviour, and the enormous size of some of the group's members. For example, the blue whale reaches a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 meters (98 feet) and a weight of 173 tonnes (190 short tons), making it the largest animal ever known to have existed. [5] [6] [7]
Toothed whales (5 C, 6 P) W. Whales (4 C, 16 P) Σ. Cetacean stubs (1 C, 29 P) Pages in category "Cetaceans" The following 16 pages are in this category, out of 16 total.
The sei whale, or Rudolph's whale (Balaenoptera borealis), lives mainly in the North Atlantic and avoids enclosed seas, [22] but occasionally makes occasional incursions into the Mediterranean, although this is considered exceptional [12] and restricted to Spain and France. [14] The sei whale is classified as "endangered" on the IUCN Red List. [23]
The name Whippomorpha is a combination of English (wh[ale] + hippo[potamus]) and Greek (μορφή, morphē = form). [2]Some attempts have been made to rename the suborder Cetancodonta, due to the misleading utilization of the suffix -morpha for a crown group, [6] as well as the risk of confusion with the clade Hippomorpha (which consists of equid perissodactyls); [7] however Whippomorpha ...