biology

List of marine mammal species

List of marine mammal species is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of marine mammal species rather than just read about it. In short: Marine mammals comprise over 130 living and recently extinct species in three taxonomic orders. The Society for Marine Mammalogy, an international scientific society, maintains a list of valid species and subspecies, most recently updated in October 2015.

Key takeaways

List of marine mammal species belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of marine mammal species to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of marine mammal species from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Marine mammals comprise over 130 living and recently extinct species in three taxonomic orders. The Society for Marine Mammalogy, an international scientific society, maintains a list of valid species and subspecies, most recently updated in October 2015. This list follows the Society's taxonomy regarding and subspecies. Conservation status codes listed follow the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (v. 2014.3; data current at 19 January 2015) and are clickable to link to IUCN Red List species pages.

Order Cetartiodactyla Footnote on use of Cetartiodactyla

Cetacea

Mysticeti

Balaenidae North Atlantic right whale, Eubalaena glacialis EN North Pacific right whale, Eubalaena japonica EN Southern right whale, Eubalaena australis LC Bowhead whale or Greenland right whale, Balaena mysticetus LC

Balaenopteridae Common minke whale, Balaenoptera acutorostrata LC (ssp. acutorostrata - North Atlantic minke whale NE, ssp. scammoni - North Pacific minke whale NE, unnamed ssp. dwarf minke whale NE) Antarctic minke whale, Balaenoptera bonaerensis DD Sei whale, Balaenoptera borealis EN (ssp. borealis - northern sei whale NE, ssp. schlegellii - southern sei whale NE) Bryde's whale, Balaenoptera edeni DD (ssp. brydei - Bryde's whale NE, ssp. edeni - Eden's whale NE ) Omura's whale, Balaenoptera omurai DD Blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus EN (ssp. musculus - northern blue whale NE, ssp. brevicauda - pygmy blue whale DD, ssp. intermedia - southern blue whale CR, ssp. indica - great Indian blue whale NE) Fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus EN (ssp. patachonica pygmy fin whale NE, ssp. physalus - northern fin whale NE but Mediterranean Subpopulation VU, ssp. quoyi - southern fin whale NE) Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae LC (ssp. novaeangliae North Atlantic humpback whale NE, ssp. kuzira - North Pacific humpback whale NE, ssp. australis - southern humpback whale NE but Oceania subpopulation EN, isolated subpopulation in Arabian Sea EN)

Neobalaenidae Pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata DD

Eschrichtiidae Gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus LC

Odontoceti

Physeteridae Sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus VU

Kogiidae Pygmy sperm whale, Kogia breviceps DD Dwarf sperm whale, Kogia simus DD

Ziphiidae Arnoux's beaked whale, Berardius arnuxii DD

Baird's beaked whale, Berardius bairdii DD Sato's beaked whale, Berardius minimus NT Northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus DD Southern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon planifrons LC Tropical bottlenose whale, Indopacetus pacificus DD Sowerby's beaked whale, Mesoplodon bidens DD Andrews' beaked whale, Mesoplodon bowdoini DD Hubbs' beaked whale, Mesoplodon carlhubbsi DD Blainville's beaked whale, Mesoplodon densirostris DD Gervais' beaked whale, Mesoplodon europaeus DD Ginkgo-toothed beaked whale, Mesoplodon ginkgodens DD Gray's beaked whale, Mesoplodon grayi DD Hector's beaked whale, Mesoplodon hectori DD Deraniyagala's beaked whale, Mesoplodon hotaula NE Strap-toothed whale, Mesoplodon layardii DD True's beaked whale, Mesoplodon mirus DD Perrin's beaked whale, Mesoplodon perrini DD Pygmy beaked whale, Mesoplodon peruvianus DD Stejneger's beaked whale, Mesoplodon stejnegeri DD Spade-toothed whale, Mesoplodon traversii DD Shepherd's beaked whale, Tasmacetus shepherdi DD Cuvier's beaked whale, Ziphius cavirostris LC

Platanistidae Ganges river dolphin, Platanista gangetica EN Indus river dolphin, Platanista minor EN

Iniidae Amazon river dolphin, Inia geoffrensis DD (ssp. geoffrensis - common boto NE, ssp. boliviensis - Bolivian bufeo NE)

Lipotidae Baiji, Lipotes vexillifer CR, possibly EX

Pontoporiidae La Plata dolphin (Franciscana), Pontoporia blainvillei VU

Monodontidae Beluga, Delphinapterus leucas LC (Cook Inlet Subpopulation CR) Narwhal, Monodon monoceros LC

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of marine mammal species

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of marine mammal species claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of marine mammal species before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of marine mammal species ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of marine mammal species

In research: List of marine mammal species appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of marine mammal species in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of marine mammal species is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of mammals, Marine mammals, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of marine mammal species outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of marine mammal species in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of marine mammal species means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of marine mammal species out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of marine mammal species in simple terms?

Why does List of marine mammal species matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of marine mammal species?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of marine mammal species.