Classification of a Dolphin
- Cetacean Order. More importantly than the origin we need to understand the actual scientific classifications of each...
- Body Type. Dolphins have a streamlined fusiform body, adapted for fast swimming. The tail fin, called the fluke, is used...
- Scientific Studies. Overall the scientific study of dolphins has greatly expanded our knowledge of...
What class does a dolphin belong to?
These numbers are continuously changing because of new discoveries, taxonomic reclassification, and genetic studies. All dolphins belong to the cetacean infraorder which also includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. The Cetacea infraorder is broken down into two parvorders.
What is a dolphin classify as?
What is a dolphin classified as? Although dolphins swim in water and appear to be “fish-like” compared to other animals living in the ocean, they are classified as cetaceans (marine mammals) and not fish. Evolving sometime around the Eocene Epoch, cetaceans such as dolphins and whales are thought to share a common ancestor with the ...
What is the scientific classification of dolphins?
Species Truncatus: Truncatus is a term used for the species of bottlenose dolphin, the Common Bottlenose Dolphin. The Common Bottlenose Dolphin’s full scientific name is Tursiops Truncatus . You can think of dolphin (or any other classification): Like this: First you have all multi-cellular animals.
Which dolphin is the fastest swiming dolphin?
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What is the classification of a dolphin?
MammalBottlenose dolphin / ClassOrder - Cetacea Cetacea is a scientific order of large aquatic mammals that have forelimbs modified into flippers, a horizontally flattened tail, one or two nostrils at the top of the head for breathing, and no hind limbs. Cetaceans include all whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
Are dolphins a mammal or fish?
mammalsEven though they live in the ocean all of the time, dolphins are mammals, not fish. Like every mammal, dolphins are warm blooded. Unlike fish, who breathe through gills, dolphins breathe air using lungs.
What are the 7 classifications of a dolphin?
Kingdom: Animalia. Spinner dolphins are classified under Animalia because they are multi-cellular and heterotrophic; meaning that they rely on other organisms for food. ... Phylum: Chordata. ... Subphylum: Vertebrata. ... Class: Mammalia. ... Family: Delphinidae. ... Genus: Stenella. ... Species: Stenella longirostris.
Where is and dolphins are classified as?
The correct is a mammal. Dolphin is a common name of aquatic mammals within the order of Cetacea.
Why are dolphins classified as mammals?
Other characteristics of dolphins that make them mammals rather than fish are that they give birth to live young rather than laying eggs and they feed their young with milk. Also, like all mammals, dolphins even have a tiny amount of hair, right around the blowhole. Whales and porpoises are also mammals.
Is dolphin a bird or fish?
Although dolphins swim in water and appear to be "fish-like" compared to other animals living in the ocean, they are classified as cetaceans (marine mammals) and not fish. Evolving sometime around the Eocene Epoch, cetaceans such as dolphins and whales are thought to share a common ancestor with the hippopotamuses.
What family is dolphin in?
cetacean familyMarine mammals in the cetacean family include whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
What are dolphins characteristics?
Dolphins have smooth, rubbery skin and are usually colored in some mixture of black, white, and gray. They have two flippers, or fins, on their sides, as well as a triangular fin on the back. Like other whales, they have an insulating layer of blubber (fat) beneath the skin.
What are whales and dolphins classified as?
Cetaceans. Dolphins, porpoises, and whales all belong to a group of marine animals known as cetaceans. Like all mammals, cetaceans are warm-blooded, breathe air, and suckle their young.
Is a dolphin an animal?
A dolphin is a mammal, and needs to breathe air through its blowhole, just as whales and porpoises do. Dolphins have smooth skin, flippers, and a dorsal fin. They have a long, slender snout with about 100 teeth, and a streamlined body.
How many species of dolphins are there?
There are 40 extant species named as dolphins. Dolphins range in size from the relatively small 1.7-metre-long (5 ft 7 in) long and 50-kilogram (110-pound) bodied Maui's dolphin to the 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in) and 10-tonne (11-short-ton) killer whale. Dolphins can sometimes leap about 30 feet (9.1 m).
What is the difference between a whale and a dolphin?
In common usage the term 'whale' is used only for the larger cetacean species, while the smaller ones with a beaked or longer nose are considered 'dolphins'. The name 'dolphin' is used casually as a synonym for bottlenose dolphin, the most common and familiar species of dolphin.
What are dolphins' vocalizations?
Spectrogram of dolphin vocalizations. Whistles, whines, and clicks are visible as upside down V's, horizontal striations, and vertical lines, respectively. Dolphins are capable of making a broad range of sounds using nasal airsacs located just below the blowhole.
What is the dolphin's ear?
The dolphin ear has specific adaptations to the marine environment. In humans, the middle ear works as an impedance equalizer between the outside air's low impedance and the cochlear fluid's high impedance. In dolphins, and other marine mammals, there is no great difference between the outer and inner environments.
What is the skin texture of a dolphin?
The dolphin's skin is known to have a smooth rubber texture and is without hair and glands, except mammary glands. At birth, a newborn dolphin has hairs lined up in a single band on both sides of the rostrum, which is their jaw, and usually have a total length of 16–17 cm . Dolphins are a part of the species Cetacea.
How long does it take for a dolphin to give birth?
The gestation period varies with species; for the small Tucuxi dolphin, this period is around 11 to 12 months, while for the orca, the gestation period is around 17 months. Typically dolphins give birth to a single calf, which is, unlike most other mammals, born tail first in most cases.
What is the integumentary system of a dolphin?
The integumentary system is an organ system mostly consisted of skin, hair, nails and endocrine glands. The skin of dolphins is very important as it is specialized to satisfy specific requirements. Some of these requirements include protection, fat storage, heat regulation, and sensory perception. The skin of a dolphin is made up of two parts: the epidermis and the blubber, which consists of two layers including the dermis and subcutis. The dolphin's skin is known to have a smooth rubber texture and is without hair and glands, except mammary glands. At birth, a newborn dolphin has hairs lined up in a single band on both sides of the rostrum, which is their jaw, and usually have a total length of 16–17 cm . Dolphins are a part of the species Cetacea. The epidermis of this species is characterized by the lack of keratin and by a prominent intertwine of epidermal rete pegs and long dermal papillae. The epidermal rete pegs are the epithelial extensions that project into the underlying connective tissue in both skin and mucous membranes. The dermal papillae are finger-like projections that help adhesion between the epidermal and dermal layers, as well as providing a larger surface area to nourish the epidermal layer. The thickness of a dolphin's epidermis differs, depending on species and age.
21 Sea Dolphin Species
Oceanic dolphins dwell primarily in the sea. Compared to river-dwelling types of dolphins, there are more oceanic cetaceans.
6 River Dolphin Species
The majority of types of dolphins live in oceans. However, six dolphin species have made some of the largest rivers globally their home.
How Smart Are Dolphins?
Dolphins are best known for their intelligence, social interactions, and complex problem-solving skills. But, contrary to popular belief, they are not more intelligent than humans.
Final Thoughts on the Different Types of Dolphins
The world of dolphins is simply fascinating. But, now you know that what you’ve seen in aquatic theme parks and local aquariums is merely a tiny fraction of the types of dolphins globally.
What is the scientific family of dolphins?
Scientists group most dolphins in the scientific family Delphinidae, part of the suborder Odontoceti. Delphinids (at least 36 species of ocean dolphins) include such well-known dolphins as bottlenose dolphins and common dolphins, as well as pilot whales and killer whales
What is the name of the dolphin that is a bottlenose dolphin?
Tursiops, which translates as "dolphin-like," is derived from the Latin word Tursio for "dolphin" and the Greek suffix –ops for "appearance". Most scientists currently recognize two species of bottlenose dolphin: the common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops adunctus.
What are the two suborders of cetaceans?
Living cetaceans are further divided into two suborders: the Odontoceti (toothed whales) and the Mysticeti (baleen whales).
What are the closest relatives of cetaceans?
Biochemical and genetic studies suggest that even-toed ungulates (sheep, cows and giraffes, for example), especially hippopotamuses (family Hippopotamidae), are cetaceans’ closest living terrestrial relatives. These animals and whales probably share a common ancestor.
What is the scientific order of large aquatic mammals?
Order - Cetacea . Cetacea is a scientific order of large aquatic mammals that have forelimbs modified into flippers, a horizontally flattened tail, one or two nostrils at the top of the head for breathing, and no hind limbs. Cetaceans include all whales, dolphins, and porpoises.
Which order should cetaceans be in?
Recently, some scientists suggest that since cetaceans genetically and morphologically fall within the artiodactyl clade, they should be included in the order Cetartiodactyla.
How long ago did whales first appear?
Scientists believe that early whales arose 50 million years ago from (now extinct) primitive mammals that ventured back into the sea. Two small, rod-shaped pelvic bones, buried deep in the body muscle of toothed whales, may be remnants of the hind limbs of these primitive mammals.
Overview
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the brackish dolphins), and the extinct Lipotidae (baiji or Chinese river dolphin). There are 40 extant species named as dolphins.
Dolphins range in size from the 1.7-metre-long (5 ft 7 in) and 50-kilogram (110-pound) Maui's dol…
Etymology
The name is originally from Greek δελφίς (delphís), "dolphin", which was related to the Greek δελφύς (delphus), "womb". The animal's name can therefore be interpreted as meaning "a 'fish' with a womb". The name was transmitted via the Latin delphinus (the romanization of the later Greek δελφῖνος – delphinos ), which in Medieval Latin became dolfinus and in Old French daulphin, which reintroduced the ph into the word "Dolphin". The term mereswine (that is, "sea pig") has als…
Hybridization
In 1933, three hybrid dolphins beached off the Irish coast; they were hybrids between Risso's and bottlenose dolphins. This mating was later repeated in captivity, producing a hybrid calf. In captivity, a bottlenose and a rough-toothed dolphin produced hybrid offspring. A common-bottlenose hybrid lives at SeaWorld California. Other dolphin hybrids live in captivity around the world or have been reported in the wild, such as a bottlenose-Atlantic spotted hybrid. The best kn…
Evolution
Dolphins are descendants of land-dwelling mammals of the artiodactyl order (even-toed ungulates). They are related to the Indohyus, an extinct chevrotain-like ungulate, from which they split approximately 48 million years ago.
The primitive cetaceans, or archaeocetes, first took to the sea approximately 49 million years ago and became fully aquatic by 5–10 million years later.
Anatomy
Dolphins have torpedo-shaped bodies with generally non-flexible necks, limbs modified into flippers, a tail fin, and bulbous heads. Dolphin skulls have small eye orbits, long snouts, and eyes placed on the sides of its head; they lack external ear flaps. Dolphins range in size from the 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) long and 50 kg (110 lb) Maui's dolphin to the 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in) and 10 t (11 short tons) orca. Overall, they tend to be dwarfed by other Cetartiodactyls. Several species have female-bia…
Intelligence
Dolphins are known to teach, learn, cooperate, scheme, and grieve. The neocortex of many species is home to elongated spindle neurons that, prior to 2007, were known only in hominids. In humans, these cells are involved in social conduct, emotions, judgment, and theory of mind. Cetacean spindle neurons are found in areas of the brain that are homologous to where they are found in humans, suggesting that they perform a similar function.
Behavior
Dolphins are highly social animals, often living in pods of up to a dozen individuals, though pod sizes and structures vary greatly between species and locations. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can merge temporarily, forming a superpod; such groupings may exceed 1,000 dolphins. Membership in pods is not rigid; interchange is common. They establish strong social bonds, and will stay with injured or ill members, helping them to breathe by bringing them to the …
Threats
Dolphins have few marine enemies. Some species or specific populations have none, making them apex predators. For most of the smaller species of dolphins, only a few of the larger sharks, such as the bull shark, dusky shark, tiger shark and great white shark, are a potential risk, especially for calves. Some of the larger dolphin species, especially orcas, may also prey on smaller dolphins, but this seems rare. Dolphins also suffer from a wide variety of diseases and parasites. The Ceta…