Mammalia animals that suckle their young

Order: Cetacea carnivorous, wholly aquatic
mammals: whales, including
dolphins and porpoises

Suborder: Odontoceti toothed whales as distinguished
from Mysticeti, the baleen whales

Family: Delphinidae dolphins

Genus: Tursiops bottlenosed dolphins

Species: truncatus Atlantic bottlenosed dolphin

Modern taxonomy had its origin with the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus,
whose tenth edition of the _Systema Naturae_ in 1758 forms the official
starting point. Following Linnaeus, modern scientific names consist of
two words, a generic name, which has an initial capital, and a species
name, which rarely does, occasionally in botany (some species names
deriving from a person's name are capitalized). Both names are usually
of Latin origin (sometimes Greek) and are italicized or underlined.
These scientific names are of particular importance because, although
common names of species often are different in different countries or
even in different regions of the same country, the scientific name
remains the same. For example, the right whale is universally known as
_Eubalaena glacialis_ though its common names include black right whale,
nordcaper, sletbag, Biscay whale, and Biscayan right whale.

Although classification of many species is still in a state of flux, the
classification of western North Atlantic cetaceans followed in this
guide is as follows:

Page of
synoptic account
of the species

Order Cetacea

Suborder Mysticeti--Baleen whales

Family Balaenopteridae--Rorquals

_Balaenoptera acutorostrata_ Lacepede 1804 Minke whale 63

_Balaenoptera physalus_ (Linnaeus 1758) Fin whale 26

_Balaenoptera musculus_ (Linnaeus 1758) Blue whale 19

_Balaenoptera borealis_ Lesson 1828 Sei whale 32

_Balaenoptera edeni_ Anderson 1879 Bryde's whale 37

_Megaptera novaeangliae_ (Borowski 1781) Humpback whale 40

Family Balaenidae--Right whales

_Balae