Taxonomy of Marine Mammals

Ratheesh Kumar, R and Rahul, R and Kuberan, G and Chogale, Pradip N and Vivekanandan, E (2022) Taxonomy of Marine Mammals. In: ICAR-CMFRI -Winter School on Recent Development in Taxonomic Techniques of Marine Fishes for Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Management. ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi, pp. 499-520.

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    Abstract

    Marine mammals are warm-blooded aquatic vertebrates belonging to the class Mammalia, breathe air through lungs, locomotion by fins & flippers and produce milk to nurse their young ones. They are classified into four different taxonomic groups: cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), sirenians (manatees and dugong), pinnipeds (sea lions, walrus, and seals) and fissipeds (sea otters and polar bear). They have undergone major adaptations which permit them to live in water with extreme temperature, depth, pressure, and darkness. The adaptations are the loss of hind limbs (cetaceans and sirenians), use of limbs for propulsion through water (pinnipeds), and the general streamlining of the body for hydrodynamic efficiency. Structural modifications to the sea otters and the polar bear are less apparent in body form and they continue to closely resemble their terrestrial counterparts. While cetaceans and sirenians spend their entire lives in the water, other marine mammals come ashore for various reasons, at particular times in their lives1.

    Item Type: Book Section
    Subjects: Marine Mammals
    Fish and Fisheries > Fish Taxonomy
    Divisions: CMFRI-Kochi > Fishery Environment Management Division
    Subject Area > CMFRI > CMFRI-Kochi > Fishery Environment Management Division
    CMFRI-Kochi > Fishery Environment Management Division
    Subject Area > CMFRI-Kochi > Fishery Environment Management Division
    Depositing User: Arun Surendran
    Date Deposited: 29 Jan 2022 06:42
    Last Modified: 11 Feb 2022 04:36
    URI: http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/id/eprint/15727

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