fluke
whale anatomy
Quick Summary
In whale anatomy, a fluke refers to one of the two lobes that make up a whale's tail. These horizontal flukes are a key adaptation for aquatic life, driven by the whale's powerful back muscles to propel the animal through the water. Unlike fish, which use side-to-side tail movements, whales generate thrust through vertical strokes of their flukes, a characteristic inherited from their mammalian ancestors. The flukes, along with the whale's flippers (reduced forelimbs), are composed of connective tissue, not bone.123
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