Glossary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Adult: Sexually mature animal that is (or is almost)
fully grown.
Ambergris: A waxy, grayish substance formed in the
intestines of sperm whales and sometimes found floating at sea or washed ashore.
Used as a fixative in perfumes.
Amphipod: Shrimp-like crustacean that is a food
source for some whales.
Anchor Patch: Variable gray-white anchor or W-shaped
patch on the chests of some small toothed whales.
Antarctic Convergence: Natural boundary in the
oceans around Antarctica, where cold waters from the south sink below warmer
waters from the north; lying roughly between 50 degrees to 60 degrees S, it
shifts slightly with the seasons.
Anterior: Situated at or near the head.
Baleen/baleen plate: Comb-like plates hanging from
the upper jaw of many large whales, used to strain small prey from seawater
(also known as "whalebone").
Baleen Whale: Suborder of whales with baleen plates
instead of teeth; scientific term Mysticeti, from Greek
mystax, meaning "mustache," and cetus, meaning "whale".
Beach-Rubbing: Rubbing the body on stones in shallow
water near the shore.
Beak: Forward-projecting jaws of a cetacean (also
known as "snout").
Benthic: Relating to the bottom of the sea.
Biota: The animal and plant life of a region
considered as a total ecological entity.
Blaze: Light streaking of color, usually starting
below the dorsal fin and pointing up into the cape.
Blow: Cloud of moisture-laden air exhaled by
cetaceans (also known as "spout"); may be used to describe the act of breathing.
Blowhole: Nostril(s) on the top of the head.
Blubber: Insulating layer of fat beneath the skin of
most marine mammals.
Bow-Riding: Riding on the pressure wave in front of
a ship or large whale.
Breaching: Act of leaping completely out of the
water (or almost completely) and landing back with a splash.
Bull: Adult male whale.
Calf: Baby cetacean that is still being nursed by
its mother.
Callosities: Fleshy wart-like growths from skin of
some whales.
Callosity: Area of roughened skin or horny growth on
the head of a right whale.
Cape: Darker region on the back of many cetaceans
around the dorsal fin.
Cetacean: Marine mammal belonging to the order
Cetacea, which includes all whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
Chevron: V-shaped stripes.
Circumpolar: Ranging around either pole.
Coastal: Adjacent to ocean shores.
Continental Shelf: Area of sea floor adjacent to a
continent, sloping gently to a depth of about 655 feet (200 m); beyond the shelf
edge, the sea floor drops steeply (via the continental slope) to the ocean
bottom.
Copepod: Small crustacean in the class Copepoda.
Cow: Adult female whale.
Depleted Status: Species whose numbers are below its
optimal sustainable population level.
Dimorphism: Two different forms of traits. Sexual
dimorphism: traits differ between sexes.
Dive pattern: Typical behavior and timing of a
whale's blow and dives.
Dolphin: Relatively small cetacean in any of several
different families, with conical-shaped teeth and (usually) a falcate dorsal
fin; as a general term, may be used interchangeably with "porpoise".
Dorsal: Toward the upper side.
Dorsal fin: Raised structure on the back of most
cetaceans.
Dorsal Ridge: Hump or ridge that replaces a dorsal
fin in some cetaceans.
Echolocation: System used by many cetaceans to
orientate, navigate, and find food by sending out sounds and interpreting the
returning echoes.
Endangered Status: Species in danger of extinction
in all or significant portion of its range, as defined by the Endangered Species
Act.
Euphausiid: Small shrimp-like crustacean in the
order Euphausiacea. Also called krill.
Falcate: Sickle-shaped and curved backward.
Flipper: Paddle-shaped front limb of a cetacean
(sometimes known as "pectoral fin").
Flipper-Slapping: Raising a flipper out of the water
and slapping it onto the surface.
Flukes: Horizontally flattened tail of cetaceans
(containing no bone).
Fluking: Act of raising the flukes into the air upon
diving.
Gestation: The carrying of young in the uterus until
birth.
Gregarious: Social.
Gum Teeth: Horny protuberances on the gums of Dall's
Porpoise, forming a tough ridge between the real teeth.
Herd: Coordinated group of cetaceans; term often
used in connection with larger baleen whales.
Juvenile: Young cetacean that is no longer being
nursed by its mother but is not yet sexually mature.
Keel: Distinctive bulge on the tail stock near the
flukes; it can be on the upper side, underside, or both.
Krill: Small, shrimp-like crustaceans that form the
major food of many baleen whales. There are more than 80 species.
Lactation: Production of milk by female; duration of
suckling.
Lobtailing: Forceful slapping of the flukes against
the water while most of the animal lies just under the surface. Also known as
"tail-slapping".
Locally Common: Uncommon or absent over most of
range, but relatively common in one or more specific localities.
Logging: Lying still at or near the surface.
Melon: Bulbous forehead of many toothed whales,
dolphins, and porpoises; believed to be used to focus sounds for echolocation.
Migration: Regular journeys of animals between one
region and another, usually associated with seasonal climatic changes or
breeding and feeding cycles.
Mysticeti: See
Baleen Whale.
Neritic: Pertaining to the near-shore, shallow-water
zone of a sea over the continental shelf.
Oceanic: Anywhere in the ocean beyond the edge of
the continental shelf, usually where the water is deeper than 655 ft (200m).
Odontoceti: See Toothed Whale.
Pack Ice: Mass of floating pieces of ice driven
together to form a solid layer.
Pantropical: Occurring globally between the tropics
of Cancer and Capricorn.
Parasite: Organism that benefits from another
organisms while harming it.
Pectoral Fin: See Flipper.
Peduncle-Slapping: Act of throwing the rear portion
of the body out of the water and slapping it sideways onto the surface, or on
top of another whale (also known as "tail-breaching").
Pelagic: Living in the upper waters of the open sea
far from land.
Permanent Ice: Core areas of ice around both poles;
this ice does not melt, but is surrounded by outer zones of ice that form each
autumn and disperse each spring.
Pod: Coordinated group of cetaceans; term often used
in connection with larger toothed whales.
Polar: Of the areas around the poles.
Polygynous: One male mates with more than one
female.
Population: Group of animals of the same species
that is isolated from other such groups and interbreeds.
Porpoise: Small cetacean in the family Phocoenidae,
with an indistinct beak or no beak, a stocky body, and spade-shaped teeth; most
have a triangular dorsal fin; as a general term, may be used interchangeably
with "dolphin".
Porpoising: Leaping out of the water while moving
forward at speed.
Posterior: Situated at or near the tail.
Purse-Seining: Fishing with a long net - up to 1¼
miles (2 km) in length and 330 feet (100 m) deep - that is set around a shoal of
fish to form a circular wall, then gathered at the bottom and drawn in to form a
"purse".
Race: Interbreeding group of animals that is
genetically distinct from other such groups of the same species; races are
usually geographically isolated from one another.
Range: Natural distribution of a species, including
migratory pathways and seasonal haunts.
Resident: Stays in one area all year round.
Rooster Tail: Spray of water formed when certain
small cetaceans surface at high speed; it is caused by a cone of water coming
off the animal's head.
Rorqual: Strictly speaking, a baleen whale of the
genus Balaenoptera; however, many experts also include the Humpback Whale
(genus Megaptera) in this group.
Rostrum: Upper jaw of the skull (may be used to
refer to the beak or snout).
Saddle Patch: Light patch behind the dorsal fin on
some cetaceans.
School: Coordinated group of cetaceans; term often
used for dolphins.
Seamount: Isolated undersea mountain (usually a
volcano) with the summit lying well below the ocean surface.
Sexual maturity: Age at which animal is first
capable of breeding.
Snout: See Beak.
Sonar: System used by many cetaceans to echolocate.
Sounding Dive: Deep (and usually longer) dive after
a series of shallow dives (also known as "terminal dive").
Species: Group of similar animals, reproductively
isolated from all other such groups and able to breed and produce viable
offspring.
Splashguard: Elevated area in front of the blowholes
of many large whales, which prevents water from pouring in during respirations
(also known as "blowhole crest").
Spout: See Blow.
Spyhopping: Raising the head vertically out of
water, then sinking below the surface without much splash.
Stranding: Act of a cetacean coming onto land,
either alive or dead; mass stranding involves a group of 3 or more animals.
Submarine Canyon: Deep, steep-sided valley in the
continental shelf.
Subspecies: Recognizable subpopulations of a
species, typically with a distinct geographical distribution.
Tail Stock: Region from just behind the dorsal fin
to the flukes (also called "peduncle" or "caudal peduncle").
Taxonomy: Classification of organisms according to
how they are related to one another.
Temperate: Mid-latitude regions between the tropics
and the polar circles, with a mild, seasonally changing climate; cold temperate
regions are toward the poles, warm temperate regions are nearer the tropics.
Threatened Status: Species likely to become
endangered within foreseeable future in all or significant part of its range.
Throat Grooves: Grooves on the throat present in
some groups of whales.
Toothed Whale: Suborder of cetaceans with teeth;
scientific term Odontoceti, from the Greek
Transient: Always on the move rather than staying in
one area; usually refers to Killer Whales.
Tropical: Pertaining to low latitudes of the world
between the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn.
Tubercles: Circular bumps along the edges of the
flippers and dorsal fins of some cetaceans; also the knobs on a Humpback Whale's
head.
Ventral: Relating to the underside.
Ventral grooves: In certain baleen whales, the
furrows extending back from the chin.
Vestigial: Pertaining to part of an animal that is
in the process of being evolutionarily lost and is small, imperfectly formed,
and serves no function.
Wake-Riding: Swimming in the frothy wake of a boat
or ship.
West-Wind Drift: Principal circumpolar current
around Antarctica, flowing in an easterly direction.
Whale: General name applied to any large cetacean
and a specific name applied to certain smaller ones.
Whale Lice: Small, crablike parasites that live on
some species of whale.
Whaling: The intentional hunting and killing of
whales for their meat, blubber, baleen, and other products.
Zooplankton: Minute animals adrift in water column,
including early life stages of fish and invertebrates.
Source of information:
Carwardine, Mark.
Eyewitness Handbook
Whales, Dolphins, and Porpoises. 1995.
Leatherwood, Stephen and Randall R. Reeves. The Sierra Club Handbook of
Whales and Dolphins. 1983.
Wynne, Kate and Malia Schwartz. A Guide To Marine Mammals Turtles of the
U.S. Atlantic Gulf of Mexico. 1999.