Cetotherium
| Cetotherium Fossil range: Mid to Late Miocene |
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 Reconstruction of Cetotherium
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Cetotherium was a
All modern mysticetes are large filter-feeding or baleen whale, though the exact means by which baleen are used differ among species (gulp-feeding with balaenopterids, skim-feeding with balaenids, and bottom ploughing with eschrichtiids). The first members of some modern groups appeared during the middle Miocene. These changes may have been a result of worldwide environmental change and physical changes in the oceans. A large scale change in ocean current and temperature could have initiated the radiation of modern mysticetes, leading to the demise of the archaic forms. Generally it is thought the four modern mysticete families have separate origins among the cetotheres, however this is only speculative. Modern baleen whales, [Balaenopteridae (rorquals and humpback whale, Megaptera novaengliae), Balaendia (right whales), Eschrichtiidae (gray whale, Eschrictius robustus), and Neobalaenidae (pygmy right whale, Caperea marginata) all have derived characteristics presently unknown in any cetothere. Cetotheriums are said to have been around 12 meters or 40 feet long.
See also
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