| 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 | |||
| Balaena mysticetus | Linnaeus 1758 | Bowhead whale | [49] |
| Eubalaena glacialis | (Borowski 1781) | Right whale | [52] |
| Suborder Odontoceti—Toothed whales | |||
| Family Ziphiidae | |||
| Mesoplodon bidens | (Sowerby 1804) | North Sea beaked whale | [82] |
| Mesoplodon densirostris | (Blainville in Desmarest 1817) | Dense-beaked whale | [80] |
| Mesoplodon europaeus | (Gervais 1855) | Antillean beaked whale | [78] |
| Mesoplodon mirus | True 1913 | True's beaked whale | [77] |
| Ziphius cavirostris | G. Cuvier 1823 | Goosebeaked whale | [70] |
| Hyperoodon ampullatus | (Forster 1770) | Northern bottlenosed whale | [67] |
| Family Physeteridae | |||
| Physeter catodon | Linnaeus 1758 | Sperm whale | [57] |
| Kogia breviceps | (Blainville 1838) | Pygmy sperm whale | [144] |
| Kogia simus | (Owen 1866) | Dwarf sperm whale | [148] |
| Family Monodontidae | |||
| Monodon monoceros | Linnaeus 1758 | Narwhal | [102] |
| Delphinapterus leucas | (Pallas 1776) | Beluga | [99] |
| Family Stenidae | |||
| Steno bredanensis | (G. Cuvier in Lesson 1828) | Rough-toothed dolphin | [135] |
| Sotalia guianensis | (P. J. van Beneden 1864) | Guiana dolphin | [132] |
| Family Delphinidae | |||
| Peponocephala electra | (Gray 1846) | Many-toothed blackfish | [142] |
| Feresa attenuata | Gray 1874 | Pygmy killer whale | [138] |
| Pseudorca crassidens | (Owen 1846) | False killer whale | [88] |
| Globicephala melaena | (Traill 1809) | Atlantic pilot whale | [91] |
| Globicephala macrorhynchus | Gray 1846 | Short-finned pilot whale | [94] |
| Orcinus orca | (Linnaeus 1758) | Killer whale | [84] |
| Lagenorhynchus albirostris | Gray 1846 | White-beaked dolphin | [126] |
| Lagenorhynchus acutus | (Gray 1828) | Atlantic white-sided dolphin | [123] |
| Lagenodelphis hosei | Fraser 1956 | Fraser's dolphin | [120] |
| Tursiops truncatus | (Montagu 1821) | Bottlenosed dolphin | [128] |
| Grampus griseus | (G. Cuvier 1812) | Grampus | [96] |
| Stenella longirostris | Gray 1828 | Spinner dolphin | [110] |
| Stenella frontalis | (G. Cuvier 1829) | Bridled dolphin | [108] |
| Stenella coeruleoalba | (Meyen 1833) | Striped dolphin | [113] |
| Stenella plagiodon | (Cope 1866) | Spotted dolphin | [104] |
| Delphinus delphis | Linnaeus 1758 | Saddleback dolphin | [116] |
| Family Phocoenidae | |||
| Phocoena phocoena | (Linnaeus 1758) | Harbor porpoise | [150] |
This tentative classification follows an unpublished list by W.E. Schevill and E.M. Mitchell currently under review. The scientific names are followed by the name of the individual who named the species and the year of naming, and then by the common name most often used in the western North Atlantic.[6] It may be noted that some of the authors are in parentheses. This indicates that though the species name has remained the same since the date of naming the species has since been assigned to another genus. Because the species are not arranged in taxonomic order in this field guide, the page of the synoptic account of each is provided in the column to the right.
[6] Most common names are based on some characteristic of the species (e.g., spotted dolphin, striped dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin); others are the names of authors of the species (e.g., True's beaked whale) or of habitats or macrohabitats which they inhabit (e.g., North Sea beaked whale and harbor porpoise); the origins of some common names, however, are less obvious (e.g., dense-beaked whale), and of less use in field references.
