Part 6

P. phocaena: The Common Porpoise. Chiefly North Atlantic and North Pacific; never larger than 6 feet.

P. spinipinnis: Burmeister’s Porpoise. Rare. La Plata round Horn to Peru.

P. dalli: Dall’s Harbor Porpoise. Very rare. Alaska; less than 5 feet.

P. truei: True’s Porpoise. Japan; less than 5 feet.

P. dioprica: River Plate to South Georgia.

Genus Neomeris

N. phocaenoides: Finless Black Porpoise. Cape of Good Hope to Japan.

Genus Lissodelphis

L. peronii: New Zealand and Tasmania; about 6 feet.

L. brealis: North Pacific; about 8 feet.

The Right Whale Dolphins

The Whales with Teeth

The toothed whales are big dolphins, and are on the average much smaller than the Whalebone or Baleen toothless Whales.

Family Physeteridae

Subfamily Physeterinae

Genus Physeter

P. catodon: The Sperm Whale or Cachalot. All oceans. Male may reach 60 feet, the female usually half the length of the male. This is the whale that has suffered the relentless persecution of whalers, always a coveted prize on account of its spermaceti-permeated blubber, and its excretory ambergris. The most dangerous of whales.

Subfamily Kogiinae

Genus Kogia

K. breviceps: The Pigmy or Lesser Sperm Whale. Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, and Antarctic oceans; about 10 feet.

Family Ziphiidae

Genus: Hyperoödon rostratus: The Bottle-Nose Whale. North Atlantic, Mediterranean, South Pacific, and Antarctic; 20 to 30 feet.

Genus: Mesoplodon: “The Cow Fish;” Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

Genus: Ziphius: The Two-Toothed Whale. All oceans.

Genus: Tasmacetus: South Pacific.

Genus: Berardius: Pacific.

Family Monodontidae or Delphinapteridae

Subfamily Delphinapterinae