Marine Mammals (part 2)

photos: Florida FWC, NOAA

Whales and Dolphins

Phylum Chordata Subphylum Vertebrata Class Mammalia Order Cetacea

Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales) Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales, dolphins)

Cetaceans

Entirely aquatic life All marine except 5 species of freshwater dolphins Streamlined, fish-like body (convergent evolution)

Cetaceans

Dorsal fin 2 flippers Tail – 2 flukes, horizontal Blowhole –nostril(s) on top of head for breathing air

Cetaceans

← 2 blowholes in baleen whales (blue whale)

1 blowhole in toothed whales →

(bottlenose dolphin)

NOAA

Cetaceans

Rear limbs in embryos, fail to develop Blubber for insulation, buoyancy Almost completely hairless Most closely related to hippos

Baleen Whales

Baleen Flexible, fibrous plates Not teeth, but keratin (like hair, nails)

NOAA

Largest animals on earth Eat:

Plankton (krill, copepods) Small fish (herring, mackerel) Benthic amphipods

Baleen Whales

Baleen Whales

http://oregonstate.edu/groups/marinemammal/images/bluebeagle2a.jpg

Blue whale Largest animal ever 25 ft, 3 tons at birth Up to 110 ft, 200 tons Heart = 0.5 tons Blood = 5000 gallons Tongue = 3 tons Eat 4+ tons of krill/day

1 ton = 2000 lbs http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/content/kingdom-of-the-blue-whale-3302/blue-whale-facts/#/compare/length

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/files/2008/06/image_krill.jpg

Baleen Whales

http://www.whale-info.com/images/blue_whale.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/BlueWhaleSkeleton.jpg

Blue whale(Balaenoptera musculus)

Baleen Whales

Fin (Balaenoptera physalus)

NOAA

NOAA

Minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata)

Sei (Balaenoptera borealis)

Other rorquals

photos: NOAA

Humpback(Megaptera

novaeangliae)

Baleen Whales

Baleen WhalesNorthern Right

(Eubalaena glacialis)

NOAA

→→Bowhead (Balaena mysticetus) →

Seek fish schools, plankton swarms Some concentrate and trap the food in bubble nets (humpback)

NOAA

http://physics.bu.edu/neppsr/PICS-2006/Whales/WhaleW_bubbleNet.jpg http://www.myfourthirds.com/files/0734/1Two_Humpbacks.jpg

Baleen Whales

Gulp, side feeding (rorquals: blue, fin, sei, minke) Skimming (right, bowhead) Bottom feeding (gray)

http://oregonstate.edu/groups/marinemammal/images/Grey%20underwater2.jpghttp://oregonstate.edu/groups/marinemammal/images/MPBlueSurfPleats.jpg

http://www.whalecenter.org/sightings/images/rightwhale11_04.jpg

Baleen Whales

http://www.arkive.org/media/E9/E9E81C14-0462-44DF-ACF0-D9A98C782F99/Presentation.Large/photo.jpg

Migrations – cold waters to feed, warm waters to breed

Baleen Whales

Toothed Whales

Predators Use teeth to catch prey:

Fish Squid Seals, other whales (orcas)

Tear or swallow whole (don’t chew)

Baleen vs. Toothed Whales

NOAA

http://www.acsonline.org/merchandise/booksPosters/images/poster-comparisonChart-lg.jpg

Toothed Whales

Largest – sperm whale (“Moby Dick”) Dive to over 7000 ft, stay over an hour

NOAA

Toothed Whales

Hunt giant deep-sea squid, fish

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/28/article-1223501-06FDA23C000005DC-677_634x444_popup.jpg

Beluga Whales

NOAA

http://www.sooke.org/tourism-photo-file/animals/belugabubble5.jpg

Narwhals

http://www.narwhal.info/cgi-bin/displayit2.cgi/images/Photos

Same family as belugas, also live in Arctic Have only 2 teeth – one becomes spiral tusk

Killer Whales (Orcas)

NOAA

NOAA

http://www.mersea.com/Resident%20Orca.jpg

NOAA

Pilot Whales

NOAA

NOAA

http://users.wsg.net/bedrosian/images/PilotWhale.jpghttp://www.mammalogy.org/mil_images/images/mid/930.jpg

Dolphins and Porpoises

Both are small toothed whales Names sometimes used interchangeably Porpoise – Family Phocoenidae, blunt-nosed, spade-shaped teeth Dolphin – Family Delphinidae, beaked snout, pointed teeth

NOAA

Dolphins

Bottlenose

Striped

Spotted

http://gallery.photo.net/photo/1813171-md.jpg

Dusky

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/B60F305D-F498-4F26-A8AE-C6FD23C028D3/139512/p4672pc.jpg

NOAA

NOAA

Dolphins

photos: http://csiwhalesalive.org/csigallery.html

NOAA

Indo-Pacific HumpbackedAtlantic White-Sided

Tucuxi (Amazon and coastal Brazil)

Peale’s

Baleen vs. Toothed Whales

Baleen Toothed

Suborder Mysticeti Odontoceti

Largest species blue whale sperm whale

Relative body size larger smaller

Blowhole openings two one

Feeding style filter feeder predator

Way catch food baleen plates teeth

Main food sources plankton, small fish fish, squid

Swimming and Diving

NOAA

Blue and killer whales – up to 30 mph Dolphins bow-riding – up to 40 mph

NOAA

http://csiwhalesalive.org/csigallery.html

Swimming and Diving

Water vapor in warm breath – spout

NOAA

NOAA

Swimming and Diving

Rapid breaths (empty and refill lungs in seconds) Efficient O2 exchange (90% vs. 20% in humans)

Oxygen storage: High blood volume High conc. red blood cells High conc. hemoglobin Muscles rich in myoglobin

Lungs collapse, exhale to prevent “bends”

Heart rate slows Blood flow to non-essential areas reduced

Echolocation

NOAA

Excellent vision, but also have sixth sense (sonar) High frequency clicks for close range Low frequency sounds for long range

Vocalization

Sound travels 5 times faster in water than air Low frequency calls/songs travel miles Some sounds common to species, others specific to individals and pods Used for breeding (males do the singing), feeding, alarm, maintaining contact

Intelligence

http://home.onemain.com/~dk1008206/html/dolph1-1.gif

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/5f/4e/5f4e9feb09f40ff00db404acaf559119.jpg?itok=YknEOX94

AP @ http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/09/article-0-1B36A1AA000005DC-139_634x929.jpg

Behavior

Breaching Spying Assisting injured Stranding

Reproduction

http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/Images/research/breed_6.jpg

Hunting

Hunting Long Island whaling:

Peaked in 1840’s Sag Harbor – largest port (60 ships) Also Greenport, Cold Spring Harbor

Google Maps

Hunting

Other Perils

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39154000/jpg/_39154790_net_bbc_203.jpg

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/images/kgo/cms_exf_2007/news/local/7671766_600x338.jpg

NOAA

http://www.coastalstudies.org/images/mnccb2.jpg

Long Island Cetaceans

Humpback whale – 30 ft long, 13 tonsEast Hampton, April 6-9, 2010

http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.1854723.1270909443!/image/4150419117.JPG_gen/derivatives/display_600/4150419117.JPG

http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.1849475.1270648954!/image/2958831293.jpg_gen/derivatives/display_600/2958831293.jpg

Long Island Cetaceans

Fin – most common baleen whale to LI Humpback Northern Right Minke Sei Sperm whale Pilot whale Harbor porpoise Dolphins

http://www.cresli.org/cresli/images/finmap.jpg http://www.sailnet.com/forums/members/barryl-albums-dolphns-picture90-dolphins-long-island-sound-aug-2009.jpg

Long Island Cetaceans

Richard Slattery @ http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.1394549.1251247248!/image/4098389032.jpg_gen/derivatives/display_600/4098389032.jpg

Whale watch trips from Montauk with Viking Fleet/CRESLI (cresli.org):

Day trips every Sunday July 5 –September 6 Overnight trip to Great South Channel Aug. 9-11 See whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, birds

The End