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.

Text Winter School on Recent Development in Taxonomic Techniques of Marine Fishes for Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries Management_2022_Ratheesh Kumar R.pdf Download (661kB)

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.

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