mysticete

[ mis-tuh-seet ]

noun

, Zoology.

1. any whale of the suborder Mysticeti, as finback and humpback whales, characterized by a symmetrical skull, paired blowholes, and rows of baleen plates for feeding on plankton.

Word History and Origins

Origin of mysticete¹

1825–35; < New Latin Mysticeti, plural of Mysticetus < Greek mystíkētos or mŷs tò kêtos whalebone whale, literally, mouse-whale (term used in extant texts of Aristotle, perhaps a corruption of *mystakókētos mustache-whale; mustachio, cet- )

Example Sentences

Multiple specimens of the Miocene mysticete have been found in this place.

From Scientific American

Paleontologists have known this for decades now, pulling one grinning mysticete after another from strata all over the world.

From Scientific American

Up to now, there have been two competing hypotheses for how filter feeding evolved among the mysticete whales.

From Scientific American

Earliest mysticete from the Late Eocene of Peru sheds new light on the origin of baleen whales.

From Scientific American

The remains belong to a mysticete whale, an ancestor to the baleen whale, said Scott Armstrong, a scientist with Paleo Solutions, a Los Angeles County-based archaeological consulting service.

From Washington Times