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Marine Mammal Physiology: Requisites for Ocean Living
Energy store: The amount of energy stored in the body of an animal (usually as fat) that
is surplus to current energy requirements.
Filter feeders: Marine mammals that use baleen (mysticete whales) or serrated teeth (some
species of pinnipeds) to strain small particles of food (e.g., krill) from the water.
Foraging: The process of searching, capturing, and eating food (prey).
Herbivory: The eating of plants.
Homodont: Having teeth that are all of the same size and shape, not differentiated.
Homodont dentition is found in the majority of vertebrates such as fish, amphibian, and reptiles, but only in some mammals (e.g., odontocetes: toothed whales).
Keratin: A fibrous protein rich in cystine, which forms the main structural component
of hair (including mammalian whiskers otherwise known as vibrissae), nails and
horn and the outer layer of human skin.
Krill: A general term used to describe small swarming crustaceans in the family
Euphausiidae. Krill are a key food resource for filter feeding marine mammals.
Mesopelagic: Inhabiting or occurring in the ocean at depths between 200 and 1000 m.
Migration: The seasonal movement of animals between different geographic locations.
Niche: The ecological space or position occupied by a species within an ecological system.
Nutrition: The process by which an organism obtains the energy (nutrients) and other
chemical elements it needs from its environment for its survival, growth, and
reproduction.
Otoliths: Paired calcareous structures (earstones) used for balance and/or hearing in all
teleost (i.e., bony) fish.
Pelagic: Relating to living or occurring in the open ocean.
Pierce feeding: Mode of feeding relating to the use of dentition to pierce and hold prey.
Pierce feeding is used by most odontoceti (toothed) whales and pinnipeds that
typically pursue, capture, and swallow whole prey (e.g., fish and/or squid).
Post-canine teeth: Teeth which are situated behind (posterior to) the canine teeth.
Resource: Any item, factor, or condition (e.g., food, mates, habitat) that contributes to a living.
Suction feeding: Mode of feeding using suction to capture prey; usually employs the
use of the tongue as a piston to suck prey into a predator’s mouth. This feeding
adaptation is found in several species of toothed (odontoceti) whales and in some
pinnipeds.
Trophic: Relating to the process of feeding and nutrition or feeding patterns.
Trophic level: The feeding position occupied by an organism in a food chain.
References
Ackman, R.G. 1980. Fish lipids. Part 1. In Advances in Fish Science and Technology, ed. J.J. Connell.
Surrey, UK: Fishing News Books Ltd., 86–103.
Adam, P.J. and A. Berta. 2002. Evolution of prey capture strategies and diet in the Pinnipedimorpha
(Mammalia, Carnivora). Oryctos 4:83–107.
Arnould, J. and D. Costa. 2006. Sea lions in drag, fur seals incognito: Insights from the Otariid
Deviants. Paper read at Sea Lions of the World: Proceedings of the Symposium Sea Lions of the World:
Conservation and Research in the 21st Century, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK.
Arthur, B., M. Hindell, M. Bester et al. 2015. Return customers: Foraging site fidelity and the effect
of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals. PLoS ONE 10(3):e0120888.
Baird, R.W. 2000. The killer whale: Foraging specializations and group hunting. In Cetacean Societies, eds.
J. Mann, R.C. Connor, P.L. Tyack, and H. Whitehead. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 127–153.
Bearhop, S., C.E. Adams, S. Waldron, R.A. Fuller, and H. MacLeod. 2004. Determining trophic niche
width: A novel approach using stable isotope analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology 73(5):1007–1012.
Marine Mammal Physiology: Requisites for Ocean Living
Energy store: The amount of energy stored in the body of an animal (usually as fat) that
is surplus to current energy requirements.
Filter feeders: Marine mammals that use baleen (mysticete whales) or serrated teeth (some
species of pinnipeds) to strain small particles of food (e.g., krill) from the water.
Foraging: The process of searching, capturing, and eating food (prey).
Herbivory: The eating of plants.
Homodont: Having teeth that are all of the same size and shape, not differentiated.
Homodont dentition is found in the majority of vertebrates such as fish, amphibian, and reptiles, but only in some mammals (e.g., odontocetes: toothed whales).
Keratin: A fibrous protein rich in cystine, which forms the main structural component
of hair (including mammalian whiskers otherwise known as vibrissae), nails and
horn and the outer layer of human skin.
Krill: A general term used to describe small swarming crustaceans in the family
Euphausiidae. Krill are a key food resource for filter feeding marine mammals.
Mesopelagic: Inhabiting or occurring in the ocean at depths between 200 and 1000 m.
Migration: The seasonal movement of animals between different geographic locations.
Niche: The ecological space or position occupied by a species within an ecological system.
Nutrition: The process by which an organism obtains the energy (nutrients) and other
chemical elements it needs from its environment for its survival, growth, and
reproduction.
Otoliths: Paired calcareous structures (earstones) used for balance and/or hearing in all
teleost (i.e., bony) fish.
Pelagic: Relating to living or occurring in the open ocean.
Pierce feeding: Mode of feeding relating to the use of dentition to pierce and hold prey.
Pierce feeding is used by most odontoceti (toothed) whales and pinnipeds that
typically pursue, capture, and swallow whole prey (e.g., fish and/or squid).
Post-canine teeth: Teeth which are situated behind (posterior to) the canine teeth.
Resource: Any item, factor, or condition (e.g., food, mates, habitat) that contributes to a living.
Suction feeding: Mode of feeding using suction to capture prey; usually employs the
use of the tongue as a piston to suck prey into a predator’s mouth. This feeding
adaptation is found in several species of toothed (odontoceti) whales and in some
pinnipeds.
Trophic: Relating to the process of feeding and nutrition or feeding patterns.
Trophic level: The feeding position occupied by an organism in a food chain.
References
Ackman, R.G. 1980. Fish lipids. Part 1. In Advances in Fish Science and Technology, ed. J.J. Connell.
Surrey, UK: Fishing News Books Ltd., 86–103.
Adam, P.J. and A. Berta. 2002. Evolution of prey capture strategies and diet in the Pinnipedimorpha
(Mammalia, Carnivora). Oryctos 4:83–107.
Arnould, J. and D. Costa. 2006. Sea lions in drag, fur seals incognito: Insights from the Otariid
Deviants. Paper read at Sea Lions of the World: Proceedings of the Symposium Sea Lions of the World:
Conservation and Research in the 21st Century, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK.
Arthur, B., M. Hindell, M. Bester et al. 2015. Return customers: Foraging site fidelity and the effect
of environmental variability in wide-ranging Antarctic fur seals. PLoS ONE 10(3):e0120888.
Baird, R.W. 2000. The killer whale: Foraging specializations and group hunting. In Cetacean Societies, eds.
J. Mann, R.C. Connor, P.L. Tyack, and H. Whitehead. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 127–153.
Bearhop, S., C.E. Adams, S. Waldron, R.A. Fuller, and H. MacLeod. 2004. Determining trophic niche
width: A novel approach using stable isotope analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology 73(5):1007–1012.