Odontoceti - Toothed whales

The order Cetacea comprises the sea mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins and porpoises, and is divided into two extant sub-orders: Odontoceti (toothed whales) and Mysticeti (baleen whales).

The Odontoceti suborder includes all the cetaceans with teeth and a single nostril in the blowhole. This sub-order, also defined as toothed whales and dolphins, include the beaked whales, sperm whales, all dolphins and porpoises, the Narwhal and Beluga.

In Madeira archipelago waters these are the Odontocetes recorded so far:

Superfamily: DELPHINOIDEA (Oceanic dolphins and relatives)
Family: DELPHINIDAE

• Short-beaked common dolphin Delphinus delphis
• Fraser's dolphin Lagenodelphis hosei
• Atlantic spotted dolphin Stenella frontalis
• Pantropical spotted dolphin Stenella attenuata
• Striped dolphin Stenella coeruleoalba
• Common Bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus
• Pygmy killer whale Feresa attenuata
• Long-finned pilot whale Globicephala melas - Dubious record
• Short-finned pilot whale Globicephala macrorhynchus
• Risso's dolphin Grampus griseus
• Killer whale Orcinus orca
• Melon-headed whale Peponocephala electra - Dubious record
• False killer whale Pseudorca crassidens
• Rough-toothed dolphin Steno bredanensis

Family: PHOCOENIDAE (Porpoises)

• Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocaena - Dubious record

Superfamily: PHYSETEROIDEA (Sperm whales)
Family: KOGIIDAE

• Dwarf sperm whale Kogia sima
• Pygmy sperm whale Kogia breviceps

Family: PHYSETERIDAE

• Sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus

Superfamily: ZIPHIOIDEA (Beaked whales)
Family: ZIPHIDAE

• Northern bottlenose whale Hyperoodon ampullatus - 1 confirmed record in 2016
• Gervais' beaked whale Mesoplodon europaeus
• Sowerby's beaked whale Mesoplodon bidens
• Blainville's beaked whale Mesoplodon densirostris
• Cuvier's beaked whale Ziphius cavirostris