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Baleen Whales
Mysticeti
Baleen whales (systematic name Mysticeti), known earlier as whalebone whales, form a parvorder of the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises). They are a widely distributed and diverse parvorder of carnivorous marine mammals. Mysticeti comprise the families Balaenidae (right whales), Balaenopteridae (rorquals), Cetotheriidae (the pygmy right whale), and Eschrichtiidae (the gray whale). There are currently 15 species of baleen whale. While cetaceans were historically thought to have descended from mesonychids, molecular evidence supports them as relatives...
4 branches of this group, most-observed first · about 16 known species
Rorquals
familyBalaenopteridae
Grey Whales
familyEschrichtiidae
Bowhead and Right Whales
familyBalaenidae
Pygmy Right Whales
familyNeobalaenidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Mysticeti in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 424321.