CETACEA • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Cetacea

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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.

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Etymology of 'Cetacea'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cetacea" Quotes from Famous Books

... of Moreton Bay are two cetacea of great interest. The first of these is the Australian dugong (Halicore australis), which is the object of a regular fishery (on a small scale however) on account of its valuable oil. It frequents the Brisbane river and the mudflats of the harbour, and is harpooned by the natives, ...

— Narrative Of The Voyage Of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By The Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During The Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries And Surveys In New Guinea, The Louisiade • John MacGillivray

... cetacea, that which approaches the nearest in form to man is undoubtedly the dugong, which, when its head and breast are raised above the water, and its pectoral fins, resembling hands, are visible, might easily be taken by superstitious seamen ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 14, No. 406, Saturday, December 26, 1829. • Various

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