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The name "blue whale" was derived from the Norwegian blåhval, coined by Svend Foyn shortly after he had perfected the harpoon gun. The Norwegian scientist G. O. Sars adopted it as the common name in 1874. [10] Blue whales were referred to as "Sibbald's rorqual", after Robert Sibbald, who first described the species. [9]
For extinct cetaceans, see List of extinct cetaceans. Cetacea is an infraorder that comprises the 94 species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. It is divided into toothed whales (Odontoceti) and baleen whales (Mysticeti), which diverged from each other in the Eocene some 50 million years ago (mya). Cetaceans are descended from land-dwelling ...
The vaquita (/ v ə ˈ k iː t ə / və-KEE-tə; Phocoena sinus) is a species of porpoise endemic to the northern end of the Gulf of California in Baja California, Mexico.Reaching a maximum body length of 150 cm (4.9 ft) (females) or 140 cm (4.6 ft) (males), it is the smallest of all living cetaceans.
Cetacea. Cetacea (/ sɪˈteɪʃə /; from Latin cetus ' whale ', from Ancient Greek κῆτος (kêtos) ' huge fish, sea monster ') [ 3 ] is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often ...
Marine mammals are mammals that rely on marine (saltwater) ecosystems for their existence. They include animals such as cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), sea otters and polar bears. They are an informal group, unified only by their reliance on marine ...
The whale's scientific name is Eubalaena glacialis, which means "good, or true, whale of the ice". The cladogram is a tool for visualizing and comparing the evolutionary relationships between taxa. 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.
Basilosaurus (meaning "king lizard") is a genus of large, predatory, prehistoric archaeocete whale from the late Eocene, approximately 41.3 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). First described in 1834, it was the first archaeocete and prehistoric whale known to science. [2] Fossils attributed to the type species B. cetoides were discovered in the ...
Whale skulls have small eye orbits, long snouts (with the exception of monodontids and ziphiids) and eyes placed on the sides of its head. Whales range in size from the 2.6-metre (8.5 ft) and 135-kilogram (298 lb) dwarf sperm whale to the 34-metre (112 ft) and 190-metric-ton (210-short-ton) blue whale.