EnchantedLearning.com ALL ABOUT WHALES!

Whale Glossary

BACKGROUND EXTINCTIONS Background extinctions are those extinctions that occur continually throughout time. These extinctions are caused by small changes in climate or habitat, depleted resources, competition, and other changes that require adaptation and flexibility. Most extinctions (perhaps up to 95 per cent of all extinctions) occur as background extinctions.

BACTERIA Bacteria are one-celled, microscopic organisms that live all over the world. They are important in the decay of organic material and in the fixing of nitrogen.

BALEEN WHALES Baleen whales (also known as Mysticeti, or mustached whales) are filter feeders that have baleen, a sieve-like device use for filter feeding krill, copepods, plankton, and small fish. They are the largest whales and have 2 blowholes. Baleen whales include blue, gray, humpback, minke, bowhead, and right whales. Many baleen whales species are endangered.

BARNACLE A barnacle is a small parasitic shellfish that cements itself headfirst to whales, boat hulls, rocks, and other objects that remain underwater. They have tiny feathery plumes that protrude from their top that strain food from the water for nourishment. There are over 1,000 different species of barnacles.

BASILOSAURUS Basilosaurus (also known as Zeuglodon) was an Archaeoceti whale, a primitive, extinct whale from the Eocene epoch, 50 million of years ago. This snake-like whale had 44 teeth in its long jaws. It had small hind legs and a reduced pelvis. it was about 65 ft (20 m) long.

BATHYPELAGIC Bathypelagic means of, pertaining to, or living in the deep ocean.

BELUGA WHALE The beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is a toothed whale that is white as an adult, grows to be about 15 feet (4.6 m) long and weighs about 3,300 pounds (1.500 kg). They live in frigid arctic and subarctic waters, but many migrate to warmer water in the summer. They are also known as "sea canaries" because of their songs.

BENTHIC FEEDERS Benthic feeders are organisms (plants and animals) that live in or on the bottom of a body of water. Gray whales and belugas are benthic feeders, sieving organisms from oceanic mud.

BLOW The blow is a cetacean's visible above-water exhalation of air through its blowhole(s).

BLOWHOLE Blowholes are a whale's nostrils. Whales breathe air through their blowhole. Blowholes are located on the top or back of the head. Toothed whales have one blowhole; baleen whales have two.

BLUBBER Blubber is a thick insulating layer of fat. Blubber helps keeps an animal's temperature stable, stores food energy, and helps the animal float (because fat is lighter than water). Whales' blubber ranges from 2 inches thick (in the gray whale) to 16 inches thick (in the blue whale).

BLUE WHALE The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is the largest animal that ever lived on Earth - even bigger than any of the dinosaurs. Blue whales are up to 110 feet (34 m) long and weigh up to 180,000 kg. Blue whales are an endangered species.

BODY FOSSILS Body fossils are fossilized body parts, such as bones, teeth, claws, skin, and embryos.

BONEBEDS Bonebeds are large deposits of fossil bones found together, mostly of the same species. A bonebed usually indicates that the fossilized animal lived in groups.

BONES Bones are made of hard minerals like calcium. They fossilize well.

BOTO The boto, (Inia geoffrensis) is also known as the Amazon River Dolphin, pink dolphin, and pink porpoise; it is the largest river dolphin. The boto has a long, toothed snout, a flexible neck, a humped back (and no dorsal fin), and pink, off-white, or bluish-gray skin. The shape of the melon is changeable. This carnivore eats fish and crabs. It is from 6-8 1/4 ft (1.8-2.5 m) long and weighs from 185-355 pounds (85-160 kg). This South American cetacean lives in the Amazon River and Orinoco Rivers (and their tributaries) in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyana, and Brazil.

BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN Bottlenose dolphins are small cetaceans that have a long, beaklike snout, a falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin, and conical teeth. They are Odontoceti (toothed whales).

BOTTOM FEEDERS Bottom feeders (also known as benthic feeders) are organisms (plants and animals) that live in or on the bottom of a body of water. Gray whales and belugas are benthic feeders, sieving organisms from oceanic mud.

BOW The bow is the front of a ship.

BOWHEAD WHALE Balaena mysticetus is a baleen whale that lives only in the Arctic. It has a large, bow-shaped head; the head is up to 40% of its entire length. Bowhead whales are about 50-60 feet (15-18.5 m) long and weigh about 60-80 tons. They are an endangered species.

BOW RIDER A bow rider is a dolphin that hitches a rides in the bow wave in front of a ship. The dolphin surfs using the pressure created in front of a moving ship.

BREACHING Breaching is an activity in which the whale jumps fully or partially out of the water and then slaps the water loudly when coming back down. Sometimes they twirl around while breaching. Breaching may be purely for play, may be used to loosen skin parasites, may be used in communication (the noise of the water slapping), and/or may have some social meaning.

BRINDLED Brindled is a pattern of dark or mottled gray flecks or streaks.

BRINDLED DOLPHIN Also known as the Pantropical Spotted Dolphin, this small, toothed whale lives in tropical waters worldwide. This cetacean has a long, beaklike snout, a falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin, and conical teeth. Classification: Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales), family Delphinidae, Genus Stenella, Species attenuata.

BRISTLES Bristles are fibers that fringe baleen plates.

BUBBLE-NET FEEDING Humpback whales cooperate in hunting and have developed a method of rounding up highly concentrated masses of prey that is called bubble-net feeding. The hunting members of a pod form a circle (10-100 feet across) about 50 feet under the water. Then the humpbacks blow a wall of bubbles as they swim to the surface in a spiral path. The cylindrical wall of bubbles makes the trapped krill, plankton, and/or small fish move to the surface of the water in a giant, concentrated mass. The humpbacks then eat a large, hearty meal.

Zoom Whales Whale Glossary

Enchanted Learning^®
Over 35,000 Web Pages
Sample Pages for Prospective Subscribers, or click below

Click to read our Privacy Policy

E-mail