N

OAAs National marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is dedicated to protecting and preserving the nations
living marine resources through research, fisheries management, enforcement, and habitat conservation.
NMFS is the lead agency responsible for the stewardship of the nations offshore living marine resources and
their habitat. NMFS manages, conserves, and protects fish, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and other ocean
creatures. NMFS works within the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and
the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to fulfill its mission of promoting healthy ecosystems.

NMFS Northeast Regional Offices Protected Resources Division (PRD) implements the MMMPA and
the ESA. The marine mammal program is dedicated to protecting whales, dolphins, porpoises, and seals from
harm caused by human activities. The program carries out the mandates of the MMPA to conserve healthy
populations and to rebuild (or recover) marine mammal populations that are strategic. The endangered
species program is dedicated to the protection and recovery of threatened or endangered marine species,
including sea turtles, salmon, and sturgeon. This program carries out the mandates of the ESA to prevent the
extinction of marine species. The following briefly describes several key PRD programs.

F LU K I NG whe n
a whale raises its tail
before a dive; may be
preceded by a distinct
raising of its back.
BLOWa visible exhale
at the surface; also called
a spout. A right whales
blow is shown.
TAIL SLAPslapping
flukes deliberately on
the surface.

Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network (ALWDN)

Entanglement of marine mammals in fishing gear and marine debris is a significant problem along the
eastern seaboard of the United States. Every case is assessed and responded to by trained responders up and
down the coast that make up the ALWDN. The responders further document, monitor, satellite tag, and
disentangle the animal. If you come across a sick, injured, or entangled whale you should contact the USCG
on Marine Channel 16. Do not get in the water or try to disentangle the animal. It is extremely dangerous
and should only be conducted by trained personnel. For more information, visit:
www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/stranding/lwd.

TAILTHROWlike a
tail slap but flinging the
tail and flukes sideways.

NMFS Northeast Region Marine Mammal Stranding Program

Marine mammals sometimes come ashore sick, injured, or dead. In some cases, live stranded marine animals
can be rescued, rehabilitated, and returned to the wild. If you encounter a stranded, injured, or entangled marine mammal or sea turtle call NMFS Northeast Region Stranding Hotline at (978) 281-9351. Do not touch
the animal, push it back into the water, or attempt to disentangle. Doing so can cause further injury. Monitor
the animal quietly from a distance and wait for members of the Northeast Region Stranding Network so they
can provide the best possible care of the animal. For further information, visit the stranding web page at:
www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/stranding.

Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team/Plan (ALWTRP)

ALWTRP regulations are designed to reduce the injury and mortality of right, humpback, and fin whales
in gillnet and trap/pot fisheries from Maine through Florida. The ALWTRP includes gear modification and
marking requirements (e.g. sinking groundline, weak links, gillnet anchoring, buoy line marking); gear handling and deployment requirements; and time/area closures. For more information visit the ALWTRP web
page at www.nero.noaa.gov/whaletrp/.

Harbor Porpoise Take Reduction Team/Plan (HPTRP)

HPTRP regulations are designed to reduce the injury and mortality of the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy
stock of harbor porpoises in Northeast sink gillnet and Mid-Atlantic gillnet fisheries from Maine through
North Carolina. In December 2007, NMFS reconvened the HPTRP team to consider a number of further
modifications to the HPTRP to address recent increases in harbor porpoise mortalities in the New England
and Mid-Atlantic regions. For more information, visit www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/porptrp/.

Atlantic Trawl Gear Take Reduction Team (ATGTRT)

NMFS convened a take reduction team in 2006 to reduce the injury and mortality of pilot whales, common
dolphins, & Atlantic white-sided dolphins due to interactions with several Atlantic trawl fisheries. For more
information, visit www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/atgtrp/.

Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Team/Plan (BDTRP)

In 2001, NMFS convened a take reduction team to address the injury & mortality of the western North
Atlantic bottlenose dolphin stock incidental to nine Category I and II fisheries from New Jersey through
Floridas east coast. For more information, visit www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/interactions/trt/bdtrp.htm.

Pelagic Longline Take Reduction Team/Plan (PLTRP)

In 2006, NMFS convened a take reduction team to address the serious injury and mortality of short-finned
and long-finned pilot whales and Rissos dolphins in the mid-Atlantic portion of the Atlantic pelagic longline
fishery. For more information, visit: www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/interactions/trt/pl-trt.htm.

The NOAA Guide to

Marine Mammals of the

Common Visible Behaviors and Terms

BREACHj umping
above the surface, often
rotating and landing on
the whales back, side,
or forward. A short forward breach is called a
chin-slap.

Northwest
Atlantic Ocean

SPY HOPraising the head

vertically above the surface
and exposing the eyes for taking a look around.
HEADRISE raising the
rostrum vertically out of the
water, but short of exposing
the eyes.
CALLOSITIESyellowish,
raised, roughened patches of
tissue on a right whales head.

TAILLOBlobbing the
flukes in the air without
deliberate slapping.

PEC SLAPa whale on

its side or back, hitting
the surface with one or
both pectoral fins.

FEEDING BEHAVIORS baleen whales use

the waters surface as a
barrier against which
they chase prey. In skim
feeding (right) whales
forage at the surface
with mouths open to
catch invertebrates (krill, amphipods, copepods).
Rorquals (mysticetes
that have expandable
throat grooves) lunge
on their side with
open mouths (left) or
vertically out of the
water through patches of prey. A vertical lunge (below)
may be mistaken for a
breach; notice that water is
expelled from the mouth.
Humpback whales often
entrap prey using bubble
nets and may engage in
social foraging with several
whales lunging together.

THERMOREGULATINGwhen seals hold up

one or more flippers
in the air to cool off
and regulate body
temperature.
HAUL OUTrocks
and beaches where
seals come ashore to
rest or moult.
ROOKERY a haul
out where birthing/
mating occurs.
dorsal
median 2 blowholes
fin
ridge
rostrum
eye gape
flanks
baleen

peduncle
or tail stock

A waterproof guide

flipper (pec fin)

Mysticete
median
notch
dorsal fin
1 blowhole throat grooves
melon
flanks
eye
rostrum
flipper (pec fin)
teeth
anus flukes
navel genital/mammary slits
Odontocete

About this guide . . .

Published by A Higher Porpoise Design Group 2009. Concept, design, and images
by Pieter Folkens. Additional photography by Ari Friedlaender, Duke University (front
panel pilot whales); Ed Lyman (callosities, skim feeding); ORES/Ursula Tscherter (chin
slap, vertical lunge); Allied Whale (head rise). This guide is printed on a synthetic film
made from a 100% recyclable, environmentally inert material containing no forest
products. It is waterproof, durable, UV resistant, and does not emit problematic vapors
common with laminated items.

his guide depicts all of the extant (living) marine mammals known in North Atlantic
waters of North America and the Caribbean. The area encompasses several marine
environments from the warm subtropics to cold water associated with sea ice and from
the shallow continental shelf to deep canyons and the open ocean. Various marine mammals
have adapted specialized characteristics to survive and prosper in each of these environments. For
example, a thick layer of fat (blubber) insulates whales in Arctic waters. Specialized blood and blood
vessels make it possible for sperm and beaked whales to dive thousands of feet to catch squid. Highly
developed echolocation enables spotted dolphins to find fish hidden in sand on the sea floor.
Some marine mammalsparticularly baleen whalesmigrate from productive cold water
feeding areas in high latitudes to warm sub-tropical and tropical habitats better suited for birthing
calves. The southward migration begins in late autumn. Northward migrations begin in early spring.
Humpback whales make an annual trek from the Caribbean to feeding grounds in the Gulf of
Maine, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. Northern right whales calve off the coast of Florida
and Georgia and return to the Gulf of Maine in spring and the Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotia by
late summer.
Marine mammals congregate where upwelling occurs. Upwelling is a natural phenomenon in
which cold, nutrient-rich water from the depths is brought to the surface by a combination of
Earths rotation, prevailing winds, ocean currents, and seafloor topography. This cold soup fertilizes
phytoplankton (small marine plant life) in the sunlight and begins the great ocean food chain,
which feeds zooplankton (small marine animal life), which feeds schooling fish and squid, and so
on, attracting a wide variety of marine life. Similarly, the confluence of currents such as the cold
Labrador Current meeting the warm Gulf Stream over Georges Bank create ideal environments for
a marine food web. Many marine mammals return annually to these places of high productivity.
Stellwagen Bank, the Bay of Fundy, Browns Bank off Nova Scotia, the Grand Banks off Newfoundland
and Labrador are just a few of many such feeding grounds in the western North Atlantic.
The Diversity of Marine Mammals
Living marine mammals are classified into three orders: Carnivora (sea otters, polar bears, pinnipeds),
Sirenia (seacows), and Cetacea in two sub-orders: Mysticeti (baleen whales) and Odontoceti (toothed
whales, dolphins, porpoises). Most marine mammal families are represented in the Atlantic. The
species covered here include eight pinnipeds, seven beaked whales, a porpoise, twenty-one ocean
dolphins, eight baleen whales, all three sperm whales, beluga, narwhal, two manatees, and the polar
bear. Three species once common in the North Atlantic were forced into extinction due to over
exploitation. The Caribbean monk seal was last seen in the 1950s. The last sea mink was taken in
1894. Atlantic gray whales, once present on both sides of the Atlantic, disappeared in the early 19th
century. However, with the trend towards a warmer climate, the Pacific gray whale may very well
emigrate over the north and back into the Atlantic.
Pinnipeds are a discrete group of marine mammals
comprised of three families in Carnivora: sea lions and fur
seals (otariids), true seals (phocids) and walrus (odobenids).
Caribbean Monk Seal (extinct)
Pinniped derives from the Latin for wing-foot, and refers
to the modified limbs, or flippers. Atlantic phocids are diverse
and numerous. Walrus are restricted to the Arctic. Sea lions do
not occur naturally in the North Atlantic.
Sirenia, the order of extant marine herbivores,
includes manatees and the dugong. They are distantly
related to elephants.
Labrador
Sea
Understanding distribution, migrations,
and habitats will help one to identify species
accurately. Refer to the Habitat Key inside to
narrow possibilities in a particular area. The
most difficult whales to identify correctly
are the beaked whales (genus Mesoplodon).
They are also rarely seen at sea. Sightings
Gulf of
Mexico
and strandings of these animals are
important to science.

Northwest
Atlantic
Ocean

Caribbean Sea

Large & Medium-sized Cetaceans

scale 1:100
4
5
6

10

11

Melon-headed Whale W
Peponocephala electra n 0.8 1.1m
2.12.7m, 2.73m;2.12.6m, 2.75m

Beluga, Delphinapterus leucas C

n 1.5 1.6 m;3.0 4.5 m, 5.5 m;3.0 3.5 m, 4 m
North Atlantic Right Whale T
Eubalaena glacialis n 4 4.6m
11.515m, 16.4m;11.5 15.5m, 18.9m

Narwhal, Monodon monoceros C

n 1.5 1.6 m;3.0 4.7m, 4.7m;3.0 4.2m, 4.7m

Atlantic Minke Whale

Balaenoptera acutorostrata
n ~2m, 6.7 7m;7 7.8m

Small Cetaceans

H A B I TAT & S Y M B O L S K E Y

n 2.1 2.4m
Killer Whale 5.0 8.2m, 9m
Orcinus orca 4.6 7.0m, 7.7m
n 1.151.6m
Rissos Dolphin T 2.63m, 3.8m
Grampus griseus 2.6 2.8m, 3.6m

C
CT
T
WT
W

cold (Arctic), pagophilic (ice-loving)

cool temperate (generally well north of 35N)
temperate (wider range encompassing CT to WT)
warm temperate (generally well south of 40N)
warm (tropical, generally south of 30N)
code widely distributed, crosses over habitats
NS near shore (coastal, or over the continental shelf)
male; female; lengths are adults from sexually mature to physically mature, plus maximum known;
n newborn; approximately (small data set); less
than; lengths in meters, multiply by 3.281 to get feet.

scale 1:50

Harbor Porpoise CT NS
Phocoena phocoena n 0.6 0.8m
1.31.5m, 1.8m;1.41.6m, 1.9m

Clymene Dolphin
n 0.7 0.8m
Stenella clymene 1.71.97m, 2.0m

1.61.8m, 1.9m

n 0.8 1.2m
Atlantic Spotted Dolphin 1.6 2.2m, 2.26m
Stenella frontalis
1.6 2.1m, 2.29m

Long-beaked Common Dolphin W

Delphinus capensis n 0.8 0.9m NS
22.3m, 2.4m;1.9 2.2m, 2.3m

Striped Dolphin n 0.92 1m; 1.82.6m, 2.7m

Stenella coeruleoalba
2.12.4m, 2.6m
Pantropical Spotted Dolphin
Stenella attenuata WT n 0.8 0.9m
1.6 2.2m, 2.6m;1.6 2.1m, 2.4m

Long-finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala melas CT

n 1.71.8m;4.16.3m, 6.7m;3.14.3m, 5.7m

Short-finned Pilot Whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus WT

n 1.9m;5.5 6.1m, 7.2m;3.9 5.1m, 5.5m

Pygmy Killer Whale W

Feresa attenuata
n 0.7 0.92m
2.12.4m, 2.6m;2 2.3m, 2.45m

False Killer Whale WT

Pseudorca crassidens

n 1.5 1.9m
3.9 5.5m, 6.1m
3.6 4.6m, 5.1m

Pantropical Spinner Dolphin n 0.75m

Stenella longirostris WT 1.72m, 2.1m

1.61.9m, 2m

Short-beaked Common Dolphin

Delphinus delphis WT n 0.8 0.9m
1.72m, 2.4m;1.61.9m, 1.94m

Right
Whale

Bowhead Whale, Balaena mysticetus C

n 3 4.5m;1215.24m, 15.5m;12.3 18m, 19.8m

Sowerbys Beaked Whale WT n 2.2 2.4m

Mesoplodon bidens
5.5m; 5.0m

n 2.7m
Cuviers Beaked Whale
5.4 6.7m, 6.9m
Ziphius cavirostris
5.1
6.6m,
7m

Humpback
Whale

Sperm
Whale

Gervais Beaked Whale WT n 2.2 2.33m

Mesoplodon europaeus
4.7m; 5.2m

Brydes Whale, Balaenoptera edeni

n 3.4 4m,11.9 12m, 14.3m W
12 13m, 15.5m

Pilot
Whale

Humpback Whale
Megaptera novaeangliae
n 4.5 5.0m,11 14m, 15m
11 15m, 18m
Blainvilles Beaked Whale WT n 1.9 2.4m
Mesoplodon densirostris 4.7m, 5.9m; 4.7m

Killer
Whale

Rough-toothed Dolphin n ~0.88m

Steno bredanensis 2.22.6m, 2.8m
2.32.5m, 2.6m

Sirenians

Pygmy Sperm Whale T

Kogia breviceps
n 1.1 1.3m
2.7 3.om, 3.4m;2.72.8m, 3.3m

Dwarf Sperm Whale T

Kogia sima
n 0.91.0m
2.12.4m, 2.7m;2.12.2m, 2.4m

scale 1:100
0
1
2

n 0.8 1.6m; 2.43.7m, 4.1m

Mysticetes (Baleen Whales)

scale 1:50

Odontocetes (Toothed Whales)

Grey Seal, Halichoerus grypus

CT
n 0.9 1.1m,1.952.3m, 2.6m;1.652.0m, <2m

Hooded Seal, Cystophora cristata C

n 0.9 1.1m;2.13m, >3m
22.4m, <2.4m

West Indian Manatee NS W

Trichechus manatus

Blue Whale, Balaenoptera musculus

n 6 7m;20 25m, 31m;21 27m, 33.6m

Sperm Whale, Physeter macrocephalus

n 3.5 4.5m; 8.7 18m, 20m; 7.9 11m, 17m

Longmans Beaked Whale W n ?; 7.6m;5.3m

Indopacetus pacificus (based on one possible sighting in the Gulf of Mexico)

Blue
Whale

WT
n 0.8 1.4m
2.43.8m, 3.8m; 2.43.6m, 3.7m

Pinnipeds

Northern Bottlenose Whale CT

n 3.0 3.5m
Hyperoodon ampullatus 7.3 9.1, 9.8m; 6.0 7.5, 8.7m

Frasers Dolphin
n 0.9 1.1m
Lagenodelphis hosei 2.12.6m, 2.7m
2.12.5m, 2.6m

Bottlenose Dolphin
Tursiops truncatus

Atlantic White-sided Dolphin CT

n 1.11.2m
Lagenorhynchus acutus 2.22.7m, 2.8m;1.92.4m, 2.5m

Trues Beaked Whale WT n 2.2 2.33m

Mesoplodon mirus
5.3m; 5.1m

Sei Whale, Balaenoptera borealis

n 4.4 4.8m;12.8 17.7m, 18.1m;13.3 18.6m, 21m

Fin Whale (Finback Whale), Balaenoptera physalus

n 6.0 6.5m;19.520.5m, 25m;19.921.4m, 27m

White-beaked Dolphin CT
Lagenorhynchus albirostris
n 1.11.2m;2.52.8m, 3.2m
1.82.6m, 3.1m

Harp Seal, Pagophilus groenlandica C

n 0.67 1.1m;1.71.8m, 1.9m;1.61.8m, 1.83m

Walrus, Odobenus rosmarus C

n 1 1.22m;2.73.56m, 4.2m
2.252.97m

Polar Bear

Ringed Seal, Pusa hispida C

n0.60.65m;1.11.5m, 1.68m
1.11.4m, 1.54m

Polar Bear C
Ursus maritimus
n 0.3m;22.5m, 2.6m
1.82m; 2.1m

Harbor Seal, Phoca vitulina NS

n 0.65 1.0m;1.31.8m, 1.9m

1.21.6m, 1.7m

Bearded Seal C
n 0.87 1.2m
Erignathus barbatus 2.12.4m, 2.7m;2.12.4m, 2.7m