Subject: Sea Dwelling animals, How they look

Dagmar Fertl (Dagmar_Fertl@mms.gov)
Mon, 2 Feb 1998 07:46:30 -0500 

     Dear Anastasia,
     
     Looking at your list, I can tell you one very easy way to tell the 
     fish apart from the mammals in this list.  The fish have a tail that 
     is in a vertical plane (is in a line top to bottom, tail moving right 
     and left), whereas the mammal has its tail in the horizontal plane (is 
     in a line left to right, tail moving up and down).  Mammals have to 
     come to the surface to breathe air, that they take in thru their 
     blowhole (which leads to the lungs), whereas fish use their gills to 
     take oxygen straight out of the water.
     
     The southern right whale has a smooth back with no dorsal fin on it.  
     This whale also has callosities (raised, roughened white patches of 
     skin) on its head.
     
     The sperm whale has a huge, squarish head with a narrow jaw that has 
     white lips to it.  The blowhole is tilted towards the left side of the 
     body, so when it is a windless day, you can see the blow go off to the 
     left side of the body, instead of straight, up and down like other 
     whales.  The body looks crinkled.
     
     Orca, or killer whale, is a very distinctive animal, particularly 
     because of its black/white markings.

     Dolphin.  You didn't specify whether you meant the fish (also known as 
"dorado" or "mahi-mahi" or the mammal (and there are many species of dolphins).

For better descriptions on what makes all of the animals you listed "unique", I 
would suggest that you browse back through the main page of WhaleNet for 
appropriate links.  For links to sharks and marlins, I would suggest that you 
use a good search engine like Yahoo.  If you have a more specific question, it 
is then easier for me to give you a good answer.  The questions you have are 
best answered by spending more time searching the web or looking through your 
public or school library.

Hope this helps!

Dagmar
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Sea Dwelling animals
Author:  Jo Bozinoff <Bozinoff@xtra.co.nz> at ~smtp
Date:    2/2/98 7:02 PM


We would like to know how each of the following sea-dwelling animals are 
different to look at and what is different about each:
     
Southern Right Whale
Sperm Whale
White Pointer Shark
Dolphin
Orca
Blue Marlin
     
Thank you
     
Anastasia Bozinoff