Peduncle – the muscular portion of a dolphin’s tail which provides power for swimming and runs from behind the dorsal fin to the base of the flukes Pectoral Fin – the front fins of a whale which have a bone structure similar to a human hand and arm and mostly function for stopping and steering Odontocetes – the family of Toothed Whales in which all members are born with teeth Myoglobin – is an iron- and oxygen-binding protein found in the muscle tissue of vertebrates in general and found in abundance in the muscles of many marine mammals Melon – the forehead of the dolphin which is filled with a fatty fluid that acts as an acoustic lens to focus the sounds used for echolocation Marine Debris – trash that has made its way to the sea Mammary Slits – the openings near the genital area of a whale that protect and conceal the nipples from which a calf would nurse Mammal – an animal that shares the following traits: born live, has hair, breathes air, warm-blooded and nurses their young

Logging – a behavior of floating at the surface which is often seen when a dolphin is sleeping or resting Home Range – an area in which individuals or groups regularly move about during day-to-day activities Growth Layer Groups – the layers of dental growth that are seasonally added to a toothed whale’s tooth which allow scientists to accurately determine the age of the animal Baitball – a dense mass of fish underwater which is usually a protective response to the presence of a predatorīlowhole – the opening on top of the head from which a dolphin or whale breathesīy-catch – animals that are caught accidentally or intentionally and disposed of back into the sea as they are not the target species sought by the fishermen often dead or injured, these animals do not have the market value making it worth catching these animals for profit.Ĭoastal Ecotype – the shallow water sub-species of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins that is adapted for warm, shallow waters with a smaller body and larger flippers for greater maneuverability and heat dissipation they generally can be found in bays, inlets, marshes, rivers and waters along the open ocean that are often at depths of 10 feet or less.Ĭountershading – a form of camouflage that allows an animal to blend in with the background making it difficult to be spotted by a predator in the case of bottlenose dolphins, one side of the body matches the background seen from above and one side of the body matches the color of the background seen from below.ĭorsal Fin – the fin on a whale’s back that is made of collagen and is often used to help identify individual animals Echolocation – the ability to create sounds and listen to the returning echoes of those sounds when they bounce off objects underwater, allowing the animal to discriminate size, shape, speed, density and direction of an object in question.Įntanglement – when an animal has a body part that becomes wrapped with a piece of debris that cannot be removed, often causing injury, illness or even deathįlukes – the rear fins on a whale’s tail that act as flattened paddles for power they are made of fibrous connective tissue called collagen and are completely without bone, cartilage or muscle.

Dolphin use fish heads