Whales are one of the most amazing animals on the planet and, at the same time, very little is known about them. Some of the whale species are the most perennial mammals on planet Earth, so much so that some of the individuals who live today may have been born in the 19th century.
In this Animal Expert article, we will discover the number of whale types, their characteristics, which whales are endangered and many other curiosities.
- Whales are a type of cetaceans grouped in the Mysticeti suborder.
- Characterized by bearded plaques rather than teeth.
- As are dolphins.
- Orcas.
- Sperm whales or porpoises (suborder odontoceti).
- They are marine mammals.
- Perfectly adapted to aquatic life.
- His ancestor came from the mainland.
- An animal similar to the current hippo.
The physical characteristics of these animals are those that make them so suitable for underwater life. Their pectoral and dorsal fins allow them to maintain balance in the water and move around them. In the upper body there are two openings or spiráles through which they absorb the air needed to stay underwater for long periods of time. The cetaceans of the suborder Odontoceti have a single spirácle.
On the other hand, the thickness of its skin and the accumulation of fat beneath it help the whale maintain a constant body temperature when it descends into the water column. This, combined with the cylindrical shape of its body, which gives it hydrodynamic characteristics, and the microbiota that lives in its digestive tract thanks to a mutualist relationship, causes whales to explode when they are dragged to the beaches.
What characterizes this group are the beard plates they have instead of the teeth, which they use to eat. When a whale grabs the water laden with prey, it closes its mouth and, with its tongue, pushes the water back, forcing it to pass between the beards and leaving the food stuck. Then, with your tongue, collect all the food and swallow.
Most have a dark grey tone on the back and white in the stomach, so they can go unnoticed in the water column. There are no types of white whales, only beluga (Delphinapterus leucas), which is not a whale, but a dolphin. In addition, whales are divided into four families, with a total of 15 species, which we will see in the following sections.
The Balenid family consists of two distinct living genes, the balaena gene and the genus Eubalaena, and three or four species, based on morphological or molecular studies.
This family includes the oldest mammal species. They are characterized by having a very convex lower jaw, outwards, which gives them this characteristic appearance. They have no folds under the mouth that can expand when they feed, so it is the shape of their jaws that allows them to collect large amounts of water from food. In addition, this group of animals has no dorsal fin. They are a relatively small type of whale, measuring between 15 and 17 meters, and swim slowly.
The Greenland whale (Balaena mysticetus), the only species of its kind, is one of the most threatened by whaling, is endangered according to the IUCN, but only in subpopulations surrounding Greenland [1]. In the rest of the world, there is no concern for them, so Norway and Japan continue to hunt. Interestingly, it is believed to be the oldest mammal on the planet, which has lived for more than 200 years.
In the southern hemisphere of the planet is the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), one of the types of whales of Chile, important because this is where in 2008, a decree declared them a natural monument, declaring the region. as a “whaling-free zone.” It seems that in this region the abundance of this species has improved thanks to the prohibition of hunting, but the entanglement in fishing nets continues. In addition, it has been shown that in recent years Dominican seagulls (Larus dominicanus) have significantly increased their population and, unable to obtain food resources, devour the skin of the loins of young or juvenile whales, many of which die from their wounds. .
To the north of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic inhabits the north Atlantic right whale or Basque whale (Eubalaena glacialis), which takes its name from the fact that the Basques were once the main hunters of this animal, bringing them almost to extinction.
The last species of this family is the Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica), which is almost extinct due to illegal whaling by the Soviet state.
The Balen-pteros or Rorquais are a family of whales created by an English zoologist at the British Museum of Natural History in 1864. The whale name is derived from Norwegian and means “rain in the throat”. This is the peculiarity of this type of whale. In the lower jaw, there are folds that expand when they drink water as food, allowing them to take a larger amount at once; would work in the same way as tracking that some birds like pelicans have. The number and length of the folds vary from species to species. The largest known animals belong to this group. Its length varies between 10 and 30 meters.
Within this family we find two genes: the genus Balaenoptera, with 7 or 8 species and the genus Megaptera, with a single species, the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae). This whale is a cosmopolitan animal, present in almost all seas and oceans. Its breeding ground is tropical waters, from where they migrate from cold water. Along with the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis), it is the most frequently caught in fishing nets. Please note that humpback whaling is only allowed in Greenland, where you can hunt up to 10 per year, and on Bequia Island 4 per year.
The fact that there are 7 or 8 species in this family is due to the fact that it has not yet been specified whether the tropical whale species should be divided into two Balaenoptera edeni and Balaenoptera brydei. This whale is characterized by three cranial ridges. They can measure up to 12 meters long and weigh 12,000 pounds.
One of the Mediterranean whales is the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus). It is the second largest whale in the world, after the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus), reaching 24 meters long. This whale is easy to distinguish in the Mediterranean from other types of cetaceans such as sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), because when diving it does not show its caudal fin, as the latter does.
The other whale species in this family are
Until a few years ago it was believed that the Cetotheriidae had disappeared in the early Pleistocene, although recent studies of the Royal Society have determined that there is a living species of this family, the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata).
These whales live in the southern hemisphere, in temperate waters. There are few observations of this species, most of the data come from captures or strandings of the former Soviet Union. They are very small whales, about 6.5 meters long, without folds of throat, their appearance is similar to that of the whales of the balaenidae family. In addition, they have short dorsal fins, with only 4 fingers in their bone structure instead of 5.
The Eschrichtiidae are represented by a single species, the gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus). This whale is characterized by the absence of dorsal fin and instead has some species of small spines. They have an arched face, unlike other whales that have a serious face. Its beard plates are shorter than in other whale species.
The gray whale is one of the types of whales in Mexico. They live in this region of Japan, where they can be hunted legally. These whales feed near the seabed, but on the continental shelf they usually remain close to the coast.
The International Whaling Commission (CBI) is an organization founded in 1942 to regulate and ban whaling. Despite efforts and the fact that many species have improved, whaling remains one of the main causes of extinction of marine mammals.
Other problems include collisions with large vessels, accidental fishing nets, DDT contamination (insecticide), plastic pollution, climate change and thaw, which kills krill populations, the main food of many whales.
The species currently threatened or critically endangered are
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