Blue whales are rorquals ( family Balaenopteridae ), a family that includes the humpback whale, the fin whale, Bryde's whale, the sei whale, and the minke whale.

Dolphins are marine mammals closely related to whales and porpoises.

Orcas and some closely related species belong to the Delphinidae family and therefore qualify as dolphins, even though they are called whales in common language.

Six species in the family Delphinidae are commonly called " whales ", but genetically are dolphins.

Dolphins, along with whales and porpoises, are descendants of terrestrial mammals, most likely of the Artiodactyl order.

Sailors, scuba divers and big-game fishermen are all drawn to these clear blue Atlantic waters where whales, dolphins, marlin and turtles are all common sights.

Recent DNA analysis indicates certain rorquals of the family Balaenopteridae, such as the humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae, and fin whale, Balaenoptera physalus, are more closely related to the gray whale than they are to some other rorquals, such as the minke whales.

Individual whales are typically identified using photographs of their dorsal surface and matching the scars and patches associated with parasites that have fallen off the whale or are still attached.

The shallow lagoon waters in which gray whales reproduce are believed to protect the newborn from sharks and orcas.

In some years, the whales have also used an offshore feeding ground in 30-35 m depth southeast of Chayvo Bay, where benthic amphipods and cumaceans are the main prey species.

Some gray whales have also been seen off western Kamchatka, but to date all whales photographed there are also known from the Piltun area.

These first whales to arrive are usually pregnant mothers looking for the protection of the lagoons to bear their calves, along with single females seeking mates.

Gray whales have been granted protection from commercial hunting by the International Whaling Commission ( IWC ) since 1949, and are no longer hunted on a large scale.

Gray whales are protected under Canada's Species at Risk Act which obligates Canadian governments to prepare management plans for the whales and consider the interests of the whales when permitting development.

Western gray whales are facing, the large-scale offshore oil and gas development programs near their summer feeding ground, as well as fatal net entrapments off Japan during migration, which pose significant threats to the future survival of the population.

The second problem is hydrofoils are almost like sharp knives going through the water, normally fatally injuring any marine mammal ( e. g. whales ) they hit.

Though it is often called a whale today, the Hebrew, as throughout scripture, refers to no species in particular, simply sufficing with " great fish " or " big fish " ( whales are today classified as mammals and not fish, but no such distinction was made in antiquity ).

" Sperm whales, on the other hand, while having demonstrated the ability and occasional behavior to swallow more than a grown man whole, have not yet been observed to demonstrate the inclination to swallow humans and generally are known to use their teeth to tear their food to pieces rather than swallow whole.

Researchers have identified and named over 300 killer whales over the past 30 years.

In 2000, genetic studies of right whales from the different ocean basins led scientists to conclude that the populations in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Southern Hemisphere constitute three distinct species which they named: the North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ), the North Pacific right whale ( Eubalaena japonica ) and the Southern right whale ( Eubalaena australis ).

In 1866 James Dawson, a Victorian emigrant from Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and a man named Warren tried catching whales in Saanich Inlet, British Columbia, but lost all three whales they struck to bad weather.

It was originally named Golfo de la Ballena ( the Gulf of the Whale ) by Christopher Columbus, but the 19th Century whaling industry eliminated whales from the area and populations have never recovered.

Ernest Shackleton named the feature on January 24 1908, during the Nimrod Expedition, because of the large number of whales seen near this location.

On January 8, 1893, during the Dundee Whaling Expedition, the island was named by Captain Thomas Robertson of the Active and named for the home port, Dundee, Scotland, whence the ship sailed in company with three other vessels in search of whales.

The Zulus named the river after this spectacle ( uMkhomazi means the place of cow whales ).

Hopedale was founded as an Inuit settlement named Agvituk, Inuktitut for " place of the whales ".

Later they built another whaling ship, which they named Selvík after the bay, and they haunted whales in this boat and brought them to the whaling station in Selvík.

One of the most visited is Beluga Point, Mile 110. 5, named for the Beluga whales that frequent the Arm.

Killer and pilot whales are the only nonhuman species in which the females are known to go through menopause and live for decades after they have finished breeding.

Soon after their discovery, the archipelago was regularly visited by whalers and sealers ( mostly British, American and Norwegian ) who hunted the resident populations of whales and seals to the point of near extinction, including fur seals in the 18th century and elephant seals in the 19th century.

< sup > 21 </ sup > And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Greenlandic Inuit whalers catch around 175 whales per year, making them the third largest hunt in the world after Japan and Norway, though their take is small compared to those nations, who annually averaged around 730 and 590 whales respectively in 1998 – 2007.

In April 2009 Greenland landed its first bowhead whale in nearly forty years after being given a quota by the IWC in 2008 for two whales a year until 2012.

* Genesis 1: 21 And God created great < U > whales </ U >, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Marine animals such as whales and sea lions are occasionally found far inland after navigating the river for food or refuge and then losing track of how to get back to the Pacific Ocean.

Baleen whales, for example, eat millions of microscopic plankton at once, the prey being broken down well after entering the whale.

They have few natural predators, although animals such as crocodiles, killer whales, and sharks pose a threat to the young, and a dugong has also been recorded to have died from trauma after being impaled by a sting ray barb.

Noise pollution has caused the death of certain species of whales that beached themselves after being exposed to the loud sound of military sonar ( see also Marine mammals and sonar ).

There have also been instances where large marine mammals such as whales have become trapped in the head pond after transiting the sluice gates during slack tide.

The beaked whales are the second-largest family of Cetaceans ( after the dolphins.

Breath-holding divers, like beaked whales, can develop decompression-related problems ( the “ bends ”) when they return to the surface after deep dives.

Nimoy hit upon the idea of humpback whales after talking with a friend — their song added mystery to the story, and their size added logistical challenges the heroes would have to overcome.

In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef after leaving Valdez, causing a large oil spill, which resulted in massive damage to the environment, including the killing of around 250, 000 seabirds, nearly 3, 000 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles and up to 22 killer whales.

Fresh concerns over the health of the bay and its water quality were raised in October 2009 after whales and a large number of the endangered Loggerhead Sea Turtle were found to be dying in the bay.

Wildlife medicine veterinarians may work with zoologists and conservation medicine practitioners and may also be called out to treat marine species such as sea otters, dolphins, or whales after a natural disaster or oil spill.

In 1913, the Norwegian scientist Ørjan Olsen, based on the examination of a dozen " sei whales " brought to the whaling stations at Durban and Saldanha, in South Africa, described Balaenoptera brydei, naming it after the Norwegian consul to South Africa Johan Bryde.

Captain Clark built a small wharf after arriving to tie up his dead whales, but the date of its construction remains unknown.

Blue whales — whose migration routes were previously unknown — were located by air, after some of the animals had been given temporary radio tags.

At approximately 4 p. m. after considerable debate by all the authorities present, the decision was made to initiate euthanasia by shooting the whales ; approximately 44 whales were killed.