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Whale Classification

TOOTHED WHALES: Suborder Odontoceti

This killer whale represents a typical toothed whale.

Whales, the order Cetacea (from the Greek word "cetus" which means whale), is divided into the baleen whales and the toothed whales.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata (vertebrates)
Class: Mammalia (mammals)
Order: Cetacea

Suborder Odontoceti or toothed whales - These whales have teeth and a single blowhole. The number of teeth varies by species; it ranges from 2 (in some beaked whales) to 250 (some dolphins). They are smaller than baleen whales. Many species live in pods. Toothed whales have well-developed echolocation that they use to locate food (fish, squid, marine mammals, etc.) and other whales. Toothed whales have asymmetrical skulls.

• family Physeteridae - Large heads
  • Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus)
• family Kogiidae -
  • Pygmy Sperm Whale (Kogia breviceps)
  • Dwarf Sperm Whale (Kogia simus)
• family Zipihiidae - the many Beaked Whales, including:
  • Andrew's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bowdoini)
  • Arnoux's Beaked Whale (Berardius arnuxii)
  • Baird's Beaked Whale (Berardius bairdii)
  • Blainville's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon densirostris)
  • Curvier's Beaked Whale (Ziphius cavirostris)
  • Gervais' Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon europaeus)
  • Ginkgo-Toothed Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon ginkgodens)
  • Gray's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon grayi)
  • Hector's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon hectori)
  • Hubb's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon carlhubbsi)
  • Longman's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon pacificus)
  • Northern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)
  • Southern Bottlenose Whale (Hyperoodon planifrons)
  • Sowerby's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon bidens)
  • Strapthoothed Whale (Mesoplodon layardii)
  • Stejneger's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon stejnegeri)
  • Tasman Beaked Whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi)
  • True's Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon mirus)
• family Delphinidae - oceanic Dolphins, large, with a falcate dorsal fin, Pilot Whales
  • Atlantic Humpbacked Dolphin (Sousa teuszii)
  • Atlantic Spotted Dolphin (Stenella plagiodon)
  • Atlantic White-Sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus)
  • Black Dolphin (Cephalorhynchus eutropia)
  • Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)
  • Clymene Dolphin (Stenella clymene)
  • Commerson's Dolphin (Cephalorhynchus commersonii)
  • Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis)
  • Dusky Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus)
  • False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens)
  • Fraser's Dolphin (Lagenodelphis hosei)
  • Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Dolphin (Sousa chinensis)
  • Heaviside's Dolphin (Cephalorhynchus heavisidii)
  • Hector's Dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori)
  • Hourglass Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus cruciger)
  • Irrawaddy Dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris)
  • Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)
  • Long-Finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala melaena)
  • Melon-Headed Whale (Peponocephala electra)
  • Northern Right Whale Dolphin (Lissodelphis borealis)
  • Pacific White-Sided Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens)
  • Peale's Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis)
  • Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata)
  • Risso's Dolphin (Grampus griseus)
  • Rough-Toothed Dolphin (Steno bredanensis)
  • Short-Finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus)
  • Southern Right Whale Dolphin (Lissodelphis peronii)
  • Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris)
  • Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata)
  • Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba)
  • Tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis)
  • White-Beaked Dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris)
• family Monodontidae - white whales with no dorsal fin and blunt heads.
  Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas )
  • Narwhal (Monodon monoceros)
• family Platanistidae - river dolphins - light colored and long beaks
  • Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis)
  • Chinese River Dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer)
  • Franciscana (Pontoporia blainvillei)
  • Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica)
  • Indus River Dolphin (Platanista minor)
• family Iniidae - Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) ???
• family Pontoporiidae -
  • Yangtze River Dolphin
  • La Plata Dolphin
• family Phocoenidae - Porpoises - small, with reduced beak and triangular dorsal fin if present.
  • Burmeister's Porpoise (Phocoena spinipinnis)
  • Cochito (Phocoena sinus)
  • Dall's Porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli)
  • Finless Porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides)
  • Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena)
  • Spectacled Porpoise (Phocoena dioptrica)
• family Squalodontidae -
  • Prosqualodon - a 7.5 feet (2.3 m) long extinct, toothed whale that resembled a dolphin. It dates from the Oligocene to the early Miocene. It had complex teeth, more like the Archaeoceti than the Odontoceti (the toothed whales).
• family Eurhinodelphidae -
  • Eurhinodelphis - a 6.5 feet (2 m) long extinct, long-snouted porpoise with no teeth at the end of the snout. It dates from the mid to late Miocene. It had complex teeth, more like the Archaeoceti than the Odontoceti (the toothed whales).

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Whale Classification

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