The blue whale is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 m (98 ft) and weighing up to 199 t, it is the largest animal known ever to have existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can be of various shades of greyish-blue on its upper surface and somewhat lighter underneath. Four subspecies are recognized: B. m. musculus in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, B. m. intermedia in the Southern Ocean, B. m. brevicauda in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and B. m. indica in the Northern Indian Ocean. There is a population in the waters off Chile that may constitute a fifth subspecies.
The Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park is a National Marine Conservation Area, one of three in the Canadian national park system, located where the Saguenay River meets the Maritime estuary of the St. Lawrence River. This park is jointly managed by Parks Canada and Sépaq. It is the first park in all of Canada to protect a purely marine environment, and covers a surface area of 1,245 km2. The area that is now the Saguenay–St. Lawrence Marine Park is a part of the Innue Essipit First Nation's land claim, and a treaty resulting from this claim could impact activities that are practiced within the park. The region surrounding the park is an important part of the history of Canada, being one of the first points of contact between Indigenous Peoples and European explorers and the birthplace of the intercontinental fur trade.
The grey seal is a large seal of the family Phocidae, which are commonly referred to as "true seals" or "earless seals". The only species classified in the genus Halichoerus, it is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. In Latin, Halichoerus grypus means "hook-nosed sea pig". Its name is spelled gray seal in the United States; it is also known as Atlantic seal and the horsehead seal.
The harbour porpoise is one of eight extant species of porpoise. It is one of the smallest species of cetacean. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas or river estuaries, and as such, is the most familiar porpoise to whale watchers. This porpoise often ventures up rivers, and has been seen hundreds of kilometres from the sea. The harbour porpoise may be polytypic, with geographically distinct populations representing distinct races: P. p. phocoena in the North Atlantic and West Africa, P. p. relicta in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, an unnamed population in the northwestern Pacific and P. p. vomerina in the northeastern Pacific.
The Indian Ocean humpback dolphin is a member of the Delphinidae family occupying coastal areas ranging from Southern Africa to Western Indochina. The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin was formerly included within the same species, but a 2014 study revealed them to be a separate species.
The melon-headed whale, also known less commonly as the electra dolphin, little killer whale, or many-toothed blackfish, is a toothed whale of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). The common name is derived from the head shape. Melon-headed whales are widely distributed throughout deep tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, but they are rarely encountered at sea. They are found near shore mostly around oceanic islands, such as Hawaii, French Polynesia, and the Philippines.
Phoca is a genus of the earless seals, within the family Phocidae. It now contains just two species, the common seal and the spotted seal. Several species formerly listed under this genus have been split into the genera Pusa, Pagophilus, and Histriophoca. Until recently, Phoca largha has been considered a subspecies of Phoca vitulina but now is considered its own species. For this reason, the fossil history of the genus is unclear, and it has formerly been used as wastebasket taxon for a number of fossils of uncertain affinity.
The Caspian seal is one of the smallest members of the earless seal family and unique in that it is found exclusively in the brackish Caspian Sea. It lives along the shorelines, but also on the many rocky islands and floating blocks of ice that dot the Caspian Sea. In winter and cooler parts of the spring and autumn season, it populates the northern Caspian coastline. As the ice melts in the summer and warmer parts of the spring and autumn season, it also occurs in the deltas of the Volga and Ural Rivers, as well as the southern latitudes of the Caspian where the water is cooler due to greater depth.
Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve or Mingan Archipelago Heritage Site bathes in the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the administrative region of Côte-Nord, in Minganie RCM, Havre-Saint-Pierre municipality, facing Anticosti Island.
Phocine morbillivirus, formerly phocine distemper virus (PDV), is a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus that is pathogenic for pinniped species, particularly seals. Clinical signs include laboured breathing, fever and nervous symptoms.
Influenza A virus subtype H10N7 (A/H10N7) is a subtype of the species Influenza A virus. H10N7 was first reported in humans in Egypt in 2004. It caused illness in two one-year-old infants, and residents of Ismailia, Egypt; one child's father, and a poultry merchant.
Lady's Holm is an island off southern Mainland in the Shetland Islands. It is not to be confused with the Maiden Stack, which is also known as "Frau Stack"
Hauling out is a behaviour associated with pinnipeds temporarily leaving the water. Hauling-out typically occurs between periods of foraging activity. Rather than remain in the water, pinnipeds haul out onto land or sea ice for reasons such as reproduction and rest. Hauling out is necessary in seals for mating and giving birth. Other benefits of hauling out may include predator avoidance, thermoregulation, social activity, parasite reduction and rest.
The harborseal, also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped, they are found in coastal waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Baltic and North seas.
In animal physiology, hydrodynamic reception refers to the ability of some animals to sense water movements generated by biotic or abiotic sources. This form of mechanoreception is useful for orientation, hunting, predator avoidance, and schooling. Frequent encounters with conditions of low visibility can prevent vision from being a reliable information source for navigation and sensing objects or organisms in the environment. Sensing water movements is one resolution to this problem.
In aquatic mammals, maternal transfer is the movement of contaminants from mother to offspring, typically of lipophilic contaminants while in utero or through the mother's milk. This has become important with the increase in usage of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs biomagnify due to their lipophilic nature and become accumulated in the lipid tissues of aquatic mammals. These lipids are used as energy for the mother during the development of offspring, which releases the POPs into the circulatory fluid. This leads to a transfer of the toxicants into the developing embryos during gestation as well as into milk that an aquatic mammal produces during lactation.
Randall William Davis is an American educator and researcher who studies the physiology and behavioral ecology of marine mammals and other aquatic vertebrates. His physiological research focuses on adaptations of marine mammals for deep, prolonged diving. Davis has continually emphasized the importance of studying aquatic animals in their natural environment and has spent many years developing animal-borne instruments that record video and monitor three-dimensional movements, swimming performance and environmental variables to better understand their behavior and ecology. His academic endeavors and 94 research expeditions have taken him to 64 countries and territories on seven continents and all of the world's oceans.
The Shaw Institute, formerly the Marine & Environmental Research Institute, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit scientific research organization based in Blue Hill, Maine and New York City. The institute conducts research into ocean pollution, flame retardants, microplastics and plastic pollution, sentinel species and climate change.
