whalewatchers.net
 Species
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It's useful to know a bit about the animals you might see when
you go whale-watching, so this page lists the main groups of cetaceans.
It also has links to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's
excellent website for more information.
The number of recognised species
of cetacean changes from time to time as new species
are discovered, usually as a result of DNA analysis. The Southern Australian bottlenose dolphin was identified as a new species as recently as November 2008, and the Bolivian river dolphin in May 2008.
The common and Antarctic minke whales are also now recognised as
separate species.
All cetaceans are classified either as odontocetes,
which have teeth and a single blowhole (nostril)
or mysticetes, which have baleen
instead of teeth, and two blowholes. In mysticetes,
hundreds of baleen plates (made of keratin) hang from the roof
of the mouth, and filter massive amounts of small crustaceans
or fish from the sea water.
Baleen
whales:
- Right whales (including
the bowhead)
- The grey
whale
-
Rorqual whales (including
the humpback, blue, fin, sei, minke and Bryde's)
Toothed
cetaceans:
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© Mark Carwardine
Two distinct species of
bottlenose dolphins have now been recognised
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© Mark Carwardine
The double blowholes of
a mysticete
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© Gill Sinclair 2001
The humpback is one of
the rorqual whales
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© Gill Sinclair 2003
'Killer whales' are actually
the largest dolphin
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Created
by Gill Sinclair
Last updated: 28
November 2008
The images on
these pages must not be copied or saved without the express written permission of the copyright
owners.
Acknowledgements:
Carwardine,
M. (1995) Whales Dolphins & Porpoises,
London: Dorling Kindersley
Martin, A.R.
(1990) Whales & Dolphins, London:
Salamander Books
Reeves, R.R.,
Stewart, B.S., Clapham, P.J. and Powell, J.A. (2002)
Guide to Marine Mammals of the World,
New York: Alfred A. Knopf
Macdonald, D. (2001)
The New Encyclopaedia of Mammals,
Oxford: Oxford University Press
Bottlenose dolphin photograph
from Carwardine, M. (1998) Whales & Dolphins,
Glasgow: HarperCollins
Mysticete
blowholes photograph from Carwardine, M. (1994) On the Trail
of the Whale, Guildford: Thunder Bay
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