Cetacea Cetacea Cetacea () is a widely distributed and diverse clade of aquatic mammals that today consists of whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Cetaceans are carnivorous and finned. Most species live in the sea, some in rivers. The name is derived from the Latin "cetus" "whale", itself from the Greek κῆτος "kētos" "huge fish". There are around 89 extant species, which are divided into two groups or parvorders, the Odontoceti or toothed whales, a group of more than 70 species that includes the dolphins, porpoises, belugas, narwhals, sperm and beaked whales, and the Mysticeti or baleen whales, of which there are now
Toothed whale Seas. The global UNEP Convention on Migratory Species currently covers seven toothed whale species or populations on its Appendix I, and 37 species or populations on Appendix II. All oceanic cetaceans are listed in CITES appendices, meaning international trade in them and products derived from them is very limited. Numerous organisation are dedicated to protecting certain species that do not fall under any international treaty, such as the Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita, and the Wuhan Institute of Hydrobiology (for the Yangtze finless porpoise). Various species of toothed whales, mainly dolphins, are kept in captivity, as well as