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Cetacea   Listen
noun
Cetacea  n. pl.  (Zool.) An order of marine mammals, including the whales. Like ordinary mammals they breathe by means of lungs, and bring forth living young which they suckle for some time. The anterior limbs are changed to paddles; the tail flukes are horizontal. There are two living suborders:
(a)
The Mysticete or whalebone whales, having no true teeth after birth, but with a series of plates of whalebone (see Baleen.) hanging down from the upper jaw on each side, thus making a strainer, through which they receive the small animals upon which they feed.
(b)
The Denticete, including the dolphins and sperm whale, which have teeth. Another suborder (Zeuglodontia) is extinct. The Sirenia were formerly included in the Cetacea, but are now made a separate order.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Cetacea" Quotes from Famous Books



... appearance of reptiles present a combination of ichthyic and reptilian characters not to be found in the true members of this class, which form its bulk at present. The Pterodactyles, which preceded the class of birds, and the Ichthyosauri, which preceded the Cetacea, are other examples of such prophetic types."—(Agassiz, "Contributions, Essay on Classification," ...
— Darwiniana - Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism • Asa Gray

... till evening, as its appearance was very inviting. Its FAUNA and FLORA, however, were poor in the extreme. The only specimens of quadrupeds, birds, fish and cetacea were a few wild boars, stormy petrels, albatrosses, perch and seals. Here and there thermal springs and chalybeate waters escaped from the black lava, and thin dark vapors rose above the volcanic soil. Some of these springs were very hot. John Mangles held his thermometer in one of them, and found ...
— In Search of the Castaways • Jules Verne



Words linked to "Cetacea" :   cetaceous, Odontoceti, suborder Mysticeti, family Monodontidae, Mysticeti, order Cetacea, animal order, cetacean mammal, subclass Eutheria, Monodontidae, suborder Odontoceti, Eutheria



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