EnchantedLearning.com ALL ABOUT WHALES!

Whale Glossary

Nanofossil Nanofossils are microscopic fossils that are very abundant, widely distributed, and time-specific (because of their high evolutionary rates). They are very useful index fossils.

Narwhal The narwhal is a toothed whale from the Arctic. The males have a large, spiral tooth.

Natural Selection Natural selection is the process in which some organisms live and reproduce and others die before reproducing. Some life forms survive and reproduce because they are better suited to environmental pressures, ensuring that their genes are perpetuated in the gene pool.

Nautiloids Nautiloids are primitive, thick-shelled, carnivorous marine invertebrates, cephalopod. The shell is divided into chambers. The nautiloid head has well-developed eyes and tentacles that can grasp prey. They swim by jet-propulsion; they squirt water out from the body cavity. They evolved during the Silurian and are still around today, but are uncommon (only a single genus survives). They were most abundant during the Paleozoic Era, roughly 400 million years ago. Some Nautiloids evolved into Ammonoids.

Neretic Pertaining to the shallow waters near the shore over the continental shelf.

Northern right whale The northern right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) is a baleen whale with a large, relatively hairy head, and a thick layer of blubber. It is an endangered species.

Notch The notch is a v-shaped indentation where the flukes (or lobes) of a whale's tail meet.

Nothosaurs Nothosaurs were reptiles with flipper-like limbs that lived both on land and in the water. They were not dinosaurs. Nothosaurs include Nothosaurus, Lariosaurus, and Ceresiosaurus.

Zoom Whales Whale Glossary

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