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

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

Baleen Whales Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus)

Baleen Whales Fin (Balaenoptera physalus) NOAA Minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) Sei (Balaenoptera borealis) Other rorquals

photos: NOAA Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) Baleen Whales

Northern Right (Eubalaena glacialis) NOAA → → Bowhead ( Balaena mysticetus ) →

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

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

 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

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

Beluga Whales NOAA

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

Killer Whales (Orcas) NOAA NOAA

Pilot Whales NOAA

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 Dusky NOAA

Dolphins photos: NOAA Indo-Pacific Humpbacked Atlantic White-Sided Tucuxi (Amazon and coastal Brazil) Peale’s

Baleen vs. Toothed Whales BaleenToothed SuborderMysticetiOdontoceti Largest speciesblue whalesperm whale Relative body sizelargersmaller Blowhole openingstwoone Feeding stylefilter feederpredator Way catch foodbaleen platesteeth Main food sourcesplankton, small fishfish, squid

Long Island Cetaceans  Fin – most common baleen whale to LI  Nearshore (1 mi.) in winter  Farther (30 mi.) in spring, summer  Farthest (shelf edge) in fall  Humpback – sometimes shallow  Northern Right  Minke  Sei

Long Island Cetaceans Humpback whale – 30 ft long, 13 tons East Hampton, April 6-9,

Long Island Cetaceans Humpback whale – 20 ft long New York Harbor, April 8-10, 2009

Long Island Cetaceans  Sperm whale  Pilot whale  Harbor porpoise NW Creek, near Sag Harbor:  Common dolphins, Jan (8 survived, 12 died)  Atlantic white-sided, Sep (3, 1 died?) Google Maps

Swimming and Diving NOAA  Blue and killer whales – up to 30 mph  Dolphins bow-riding – up to 40 mph NOAA

Swimming and Diving  Water vapor in warm breath – spout NOAA

Swimming and Diving  Rapid breaths (empty and refill lungs in seconds)  Efficient O 2 exchange (90% vs. 20% in humans) Oxygen storage:  High blood volume  High conc. red blood cells  High conc. hemoglobin  Muscles rich in myoglobin  Lungs colapse, 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

Behavior  Breaching  Spying  Assisting injured  Stranding

Reproduction

Hunting

 Long Island whaling:  Peaked in 1840’s  Sag Harbor – largest port (60 ships)  Also Greenport, Cold Spring Harbor Google Maps

Hunting

Other Perils