Whale tails and fish tails

[kach22i]

A guy (fisheries biologist) in a boat forum wrote this:

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=8191&page=3

Why do marine mammals (whales, dolphins, manatees, etc.) have horizontal tails rather than the vertical tails that fish sport? The most obvious explanation is that these mammals breathe surface air, and the horizontal tail is more efficient at moving them up and down in the water column, whereas the fishes' vertical tails allow them greater efficiency at swimming through the water horizontally.

Although I think there is something to what he claims, fact is whales have a mammal's spine. This means just like when I go in the water it is easier to do a so-called dolphin kick when keeping the legs together than a side to side body motion.

Perhaps a chiropacter could set this disscussion straight.

[Aurel]

How is boating on lake Michigan?

Aurel

[Moses]

I think I know where you are going with this. Not to offend any ID ideologues, but anyone who has ever taken a comparative anatomy course will generally conclude that whales were at one time fully adapted terrestrial animals.

The skeleton of a whale consists of a skull, a backbone, a rib cage, and a collection of bones that are part of the flipper, but correspond closely to the bones in the human arm and hand. There is a scapula (shoulder blade), humerus (upper arm bone), ulna and radius (fore arm bones), and a collection of metacarpals (wrist bones) and phalanges (fingers) that correspond to the hand.

[billwagnon]

whales were at one time fully adapted terrestrial animals

Not according to my belief system, they weren't.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage.

[kach22i]

Originally posted by Moses
correspond closely to the bones in the human arm and hand.

Do whales masterbate?

Great scientific minds want to know.

Moses, seriously - that picture and information is awesome.

[Moses]

Originally posted by billwagnon
Not according to my belief system, they weren't.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage.

Balderdash! And everyone knows there are more than 7 pirates left!