Marine mammals
Marine mammals
•  People for Puget Sound
•  Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Network
http://www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu/island/mmsn/
•  Commonly found
http://www.orcanetwork.org/marinemammals/webpage3marmams.pdf
•  Voices in the Sea
http://cetus.ucsd.edu/sounds.html
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora
•  Kingdom: Animalia
•  Phylum: Chordata
•  Class: Mammalia
–  Land-dwelling ancestors
–  Warm-blooded
–  Breathe air
–  Hair/fur
–  Bear live young
–  Mammary glands for milk
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora
•  Carnivores
•  Prominent canine teeth
•  Carnivores
•  Prominent canine teeth
Order Carnivora
Family Ailuridae (red panda)
Family Canidae (coyotes, dogs, foxes, jackals, and wolves)
Family Mephitidae (skunks and stink badgers)
Family Mustelidae (badgers, otters, weasels, and relatives)
Family Odobenidae (walruses)
Family Otariidae (fur seals and sea lions)
Family Phocidae (seals)
Family Procyonidae (coatis, raccoons, and relatives)
Family Ursidae (bears)
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora
Federal: Concern
State: Endangered
Sea otter: Enhydra lutris
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Keystone species
Thick coat of fur (instead of blubber) for insulation
Pry open urchins, mollusks, crustaceans with rocks
Birth to 1 pup per year
Photos: David Menke
Photos: David Menke
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Marine mammals: Order Carnivora
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora
Sea Otter threats:
•  Fur trade industry
- Hunted to near extinction, 30,000 to 1,000 in 1900
- Now protected under MMPA
- Translocation of Alaskan otters
- CA: local population expanded to 2800 in 2007
- WA: 59 in 1970, 800 in 2006
- OR: 93 in 1970, all died
- Canada: 89 in 1969, 3500 in 2007
- Russia: 15,000
- Japan: ~10
•  Oil spills
- Soiling thick coat of fur usually results in death
Polar Bear: Ursus maritimus
Strong, streamlined swimmer
Thick fur
Insulating, buoyant blubber
Feed on ring seals, walrus, whale
carcasses, birds and vegetation
Photos: Norbert Rosing
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Walrus: Odobenus rosmarus
Sole remaining species
Atlantic and Pacific subspecies
Photos: Joel Sartore, Annie Griffiths Belt,Mark Moritsch
Photos: Joel Sartore, Annie Griffiths Belt,Mark Moritsch
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Walrus: Odobenus rosmarus
Family: Otariidae
•  Prey on benthic invertebrates
- Clams, mussels
•  Flippers have five digits
•  3700 lbs (male), 2700 lbs (female)
•  Live up to 40 years
•  2/3 of life in water
Adapted for land
Sea lions, fur seals
14 species
•  Population: 250,000 worldwide
- fluctuated greatly with hunting
- hunted for ivory, oil and hides
•  Threatened by climate change
- N. migration in summer
- 1 calf born on the ice in summer
Family: Phocidae
Adapted for water
True seals or earless seals
19 species
Photos: Joel Sartore, Annie Griffiths Belt,Mark Moritsch
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Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Federal: Endangered
State: Threatened
**Stellar sea lion : Enhydra lutris
Sea lions:
Fur seals
Prey on fish, squid
Highly social
Mate on land
Harems of 3-40
Hooker sea lion
Similar to sea lions
Photos: Joel Sartore, Annie Griffiths Belt,Mark Moritsch
Marine mammals: Order Carnivora: Pinnipeds
Photos: Joel Sartore, Annie Griffiths Belt,Mark Moritsch
Marine mammals: Order Sirenia
•  Herbivores
•  Paddle-like tail
•  Rounded flippers
N. elephant seal
**Harbor seals : Enhydra lutris
True seals:
Order Sirenia
Family Dugongidae (dugong)
Family Trichechidae (manatees)
Prey on fish, squid,
octopus, shellfish
Grunt & slap water
Above 30N, below 50S
Some freshwater lakes
Photos: Joel Sartore, Annie Griffiths Belt,Mark Moritsch
Marine mammals: Order Sirenia
Marine mammals: Order Sirenia
Manatee: three species
Dugong
10-12 long, 1500-1800 lbs
3000 individuals
Rest and feed often, bottom dwellers
Can venture into brackish water
Endangered by habitat destruction
Strictly marine
Brief dives for aquatic plants
Endangered by hunting for meat and leather
Photos: Brian J. Skerry, OFS/D
Photos: Brian J. Skerry, OFS/D
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Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
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Few hairs
Horizontal tail fin (fish have vertical tail fin)
Well developed inner ear
Adaptations for speed
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
•  Vestigial hind limbs
–  Stream-lined bodies
–  Specialized skin structure
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
•  Blowholes for breathing
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
•  Adaptations for deep diving
–  Efficient oxygen use
•  Able to absorb 90% of oxygen inhaled
•  Able to store large quantities of oxygen in the blood & muscles
•  Able to reduce oxygen required for noncritical organs
–  Muscles insensitive to carbon dioxide buildup
–  Collapsible lungs & rib cage
•  Removes all air when they dive
•  Prevents nitrogen buildup in the blood (nitrogen narcosis)
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed)
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales)
Family Delphinidae (dolphins, killer whales, pilot whales, and relatives)
Family Iniidae (river dolphins)
Family Monodontidae (beluga and narwhal)
Family Phocoenidae (porpoises)
Family Physeteridae (sperm whales)
Family Platanistidae (Indian river dolphins)
Family Ziphiidae (beaked whales)
•  Form social groups
•  Hunt fish, squid, crabs, starfish, etc.
•  Echolocate to determine distance, direction, shape, size
of objects & prey
•  1 nasal opening
•  Smaller than baleen whales (< 30 )
Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales)
Family Balaenidae (bowhead whales and right whales)
Family Balaenopteridae (rorquals)
Family Eschrichtiidae (gray whale)
Family Neobalaenidae (pygmy right whale)
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Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Delphinidae (32)
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Delphinidae (32)
Bottlenose dolphin:
Orca: Orcinus orca
Fed: Endangered
State: Endangered
Wide temperature tolerance
Breed of coast of WA
Highly social, travel in pods with one adult male, many breeding females
Diverse prey: other whales, birds, fish
Long lifespans, up to 100 years
Highly social, groups up to several hundred
Echolocation to find prey
Photo: NOAA, Brian J. Skerry
Photo: NOAA, Brian J. Skerry
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Monodontidae (2)
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Phocoenidae (6)
Coastal waters
Small, ~2 m long
Vaquita
Rarest marine mammal
Northern Baja
Smallest porpoise
**Dall s Porpoise: Phocoenoides dalli
Narwhal and Beluga, The white whales
Arctic Seas
4-6 m, 2000-3000 lbs
Lack a dorsal fin, feed at 1000
Travel in groups of 2-3
**Harbor Porpoise : Phocoenoides phocoena
Photo: NOAA, Brian J. Skerry
Photo: NOAA, Brian J. Skerry
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Physeteridae (2)
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Iniidae (4)
Sperm whale and pygmy sperm whale
River Dolphins
18 m, 53,000 kg
Pygmy: 4 m, 320 kg
Head 35% of the body, Acoustic lens in the head
Hunts squid at depths > 1000 m
Fresh and coastal waters, hunt by echolocation
•  Chinese River Dolphin: extinct
•  Amazon River Dolphin (boto)
•  La Plata Coastal Dolphin, SE South America
Photo: NOAA, Brian J. Skerry
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Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Platanistidae (4)
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed), Family Ziphiidae (19)
Beaked whales
Indian River Dolphins
Long, narrow beaks
Fresh and coastal waters, hunt by echolocation
•  Ganges River Dolphin
•  Indus River Dolphin, Pakistan: near extinction from human barriers
Photo: NOAA, Brian J. Skerry
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen)
•  Solitary or form small groups
•  Fibrous plates of baleen sieve fish and crustaceans from
the water
•  Low frequency calls (no need for echolocation)
•  20-90 long
Suborder Odontoceti (toothed whales)
Family Delphinidae (dolphins, killer whales, pilot whales, and relatives)
Family Iniidae (river dolphins)
Family Monodontidae (beluga and narwhal)
Family Phocoenidae (porpoises)
Family Physeteridae (sperm whales)
Family Platanistidae (Indian river dolphins)
Family Ziphiidae (beaked whales)
Suborder Mysticeti (baleen whales)
Family Balaenidae (bowhead whales and right whales)
Family Balaenopteridae (rorquals)
Family Eschrichtiidae (gray whale)
Family Neobalaenidae (pygmy right whale)
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen), Family Balaenidae (3)
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen), Family Balaenopteridae (6)
Rorqual; Humpback: Megaptera novaeangliae
Bowhead and right whales
Fed: Endangered
State: Endangered
Photo: Merrill Gosho, NOAA
Photo: NOAA/NMFS Northeast
Fisheries Science Center
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Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen), Family Balaenopteridae (6)
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen), Family Balaenopteridae (6)
Rorqual; Fin: Balaenoptera physalus
Rorqual; Minke: Balaenoptera acutorostrata
Fed: Endangered
State: Endangered
Photo: NOAA/NMFS Northeast
Fisheries Science Center
Photo: NOAA/NMFS Northeast
Fisheries Science Center
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen), Family Balaenopteridae (6)
Suborder Mystecetic (baleen), Family Eschrichtiidae (1)
Gray whale: eschrichtius robustus
Rorqual; Blue: Balaenoptera musculus
State: Sensitive
Photo: NOAA/NMFS Northeast
Fisheries Science Center
Photo: Michaël CATANZARITI
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Marine mammals: Order Cetacea
Gray whale migration
Gray whale migration
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22,000 km annual migration
Winter - mating and calving
Summer - polar feeding
Puget Sound
•  Gray whale, March-May
•  Humpback, Oct-Nov.
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Oviparous: sharks that lay eggs
Sharks are fish!
egg case of a deepsea cat shark!
Viviparous: eggs develop inside of the shark
Whales are
mammals!
Placental connection and fetal hammerhead shark!
Puget Sound Marine Mammals
Puget Sound Marine Mammals
Marine Mammal Protection Act, 1972
•  Prohibits taking a marine mammal
Endangered Species Act, 1973
-attempt or actually harass, hunt, capture or kill
•  Passed based on
- some marine mammal species or stocks may be in
danger of extinction as a result of human activities
- Stocks must not be permitted to fall below optimum
sustainable population level
- Measures needed to replenish these stocks
- There is inadequate knowledge about ecology and
population dynamics
- Marine mammals are resources of great international
significance
Photos: David Menke
•  listing of species as endangered and threatened
•  prohibits unauthorized taking, possession, sale, and transport
•  authority to acquire land for the conservation of listed species
•  authorizes establishment of cooperative agreements and grants
to States that establish / maintain active and adequate programs
for endangered and threatened wildlife and plants
•  assessment of civil and criminal penalties for violation
•  payment of rewards to anyone furnishing information leading to
arrest and conviction for any violation
Photos: David Menke
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