Whale are the largest animal on earth and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. The massive mammals range from the 600-pound dwarf sperm whale to the colossal blue whale, which can weigh more than 200 tons and stretch up to 100 feet long almost as long as a professional basketball court.
TYPES OF WHALE
They are an informal grouping within the infraorder Cetacea. The two parvorders of whales(Types) are baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti).
Toothed whales, as the name suggests, have teeth, which are used to hunt and eat squid, fish, and seals. They rely on their well-developed sonar to find their way in the water. Toothed whales include sperm whales, as well as dolphins, porpoises, and orcas, among others.
Baleen whales are larger than toothed whales. They have a pair of blowholes side by side and lack teeth; instead they have baleen plates which form a sieve-like structure in the upper jaw made of keratin, which they use to filter plankton from the water. Some whales, such as the humpback, reside in the polar regions where they feed on a reliable source of schooling fish and krill. Mysticetes consist of four families: rorquals (balaenopterids), cetotheriids, right whales (balaenids), and grey whales (eschrichtiids).
BLUE WHALE
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| Balaenoptera musculus |
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Megaptera novaeangliae |
BRYDE'S WHALE
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| Balaenoptera brydei |
SEI WHALE
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| Balaenoptera borealis |
EDEN'S WHALE
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| Balaenoptera edeni |
OMURA'S WHALE
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| Balaenoptera omurai |
ANTARCTIC MINKE WHALE
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| Pterobalaena bonaerensis |
COMMON MINKE WHALE
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| Balaenoptera acutorostrata |
FIN WHALE
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| Balaenoptera physalus |
BOWHEAD WHALE
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| Balaena mysticetus |
NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE
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| Eubalaena glacialis |
NORTH PACIFIC RIGHT WHALE
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| Eubalaena japonica |
SOUTHERN RIGHT WHALE
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| Eubalaena australis |
GRAY WHALE
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Eschrichtius robustus |
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