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Cetacea

Cetacea
humpbackwhale37sm.JPG
Humpback Whale breeching.
(Larger image)
Scientific Classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Cetacea
The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Cetus is Latin and is used in biological names to mean "whale"; its original meaning was more general, "large sea animal". It comes from Greek ketos, a sea monster.

Cetaceans are the mammals most fully adapted to aquatic life. Their body is fusiform (spindle-shaped). The forelimbs are modified into flippers. The tiny hindlimbs are vestigial, they do not attach to the backbone and are hidden within the body. The tail has horizontal flukes.

Cetaceans are nearly hairless, and are insulated by a thick layer of blubber.

Cetacea contains 10 families, and about 80 species.

Taxonomical listing

The specification shown here closely follows that of "Marine Mammals of the World. Systematics and Distribution", by Dale W. Rice (1998). Published by the Society of Marine Mammalogy as Special Publication No. 4, the tract has become the standard taxonomy reference in the field. See the Society's website (here) for further details. Differences reflect usage of common names and further discoveries since the publication of that work.

See also

External links

Referenced By

Amazon River Dolphin | Antarctic Minke Whale | Aquatic animal | Arabian Common Dolphin | Arnoux's Beaked Whale | Atlantic Hump-backed Dolphin | Atlantic Humpback Dolphin | Atlantic Northern Right Whale | Atlantic Spotted Dolphin | Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin | Baird's Beaked Whale | Balaenoptera | Balaenoptera musculus | Balaenoptera omurai | Balaenopteridae | Balaenopterinae | Balaenoptiidae | Beaked Whale | Beaked Whales | Beluga | Beluga whale | Berardius | Black-chinned Dolphin | Black Dolphin | Blue Whale | Boto | Bottle-nosed dolphin | Bottlenose Dolphin | Bottlenose Dolphin/Temp | Bottlenose Whale | Bowhead Whale | Bryde's Whale | Burmeister's Porpoise | Caperea | Catecean | Cetacea | Cetacean | Cetaceans | Chilean Dolphin | Chinese River Dolphin | Chinese White Dolphin | Clymene Dolphin | Coalfish Whale | Commerson's Dolphin | Common Bottlenose Dolphin | Common Dolphin | Common Minke Whale | Common Porpoise | Cuvier's Beaked Whale | Dall's Porpoise | Dall’s Porpoise | Delphinapterus | Delphinidae | Dusky Dolphin | Dwarf Minke Whale | Dwarf Sperm Whale | Eden's Whale | Eschrichtiidae | Eschrichtius | Eubalaena | Eubalaena mysticetus | Eutheria | Evolutionary timeline | False Killer Whale | Feresa | Fin Whale | Finless Porpoise | Franciscana | Fraser's Dolphin | Ganges River Dolphin | Giant Beaked Whale | Giant Beaked Whales | Globicephala | Goose-beaked Whale | Gray Whale | Harbor Porpoise | Harbour Porpoise | Heaviside's Dolphin | Hector's Dolphin | Hourglass Dolphin | Humpback Dolphins | Humpback Whale | Hyperoodon | Hyperoodontidae | Indian Humpback Dolphin | Indian Ocean Bottlenose Dolphin | Indo-Pacific Beaked Whale | Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin | Indo-Pacific Hump-backed Dolphin | Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin | Indopacetus


License

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cetacea".

History

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