Home > About whales & dolphins > What is baleen? There are 14 species of baleen whale including the blue, bowhead, right, humpback, minke and grey whale. Baleen whales are generally larger than toothed whales except for the sperm whale which is very big and has teeth.
Baleen whales primarily feed on krill, which themselves primarily eat phytoplankton.Nov 3, 2021
Baleen is the series of fringed plates hanging in right whales' mouths that are used to strain seawater for food. Until the early 1900's, right whales were heavily hunted primarily for their fatty blubber, which could be burned in oil lamps or made into soap.
The most distinctive feature is its coloration: the body is black or dark brownish grey above and on the sides, and white below, but the head colour is asymmetrical (The left lower jaw is mostly dark, while the right is largely white). From above the head is more pointed than the one U-shaped of a blue whale.Mar 29, 2021
Baleen Whales: While swimming through the water, a baleen whale opens its mouth to take in enormous quantities of water that contains zooplankton. As the water is forced from the whale's mouth, it passes through overlapping plates of a fibrous protein material called baleen.
Each plate of baleen consists of long flexible hairs bound together by connective tissue and embedded in the upper gum. Made of keratin, they are similar in appearance to human fingernails. Hundreds of plates, one alongside the other, line each side of the upper jaw, hanging downward.
Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and remain as a food source for the whale.
Toothed whales and dolphins (for example killer whales and bottle-nose dolphins) use echolocation for hunting and navigating, while baleen whales (for example humpbacks and blue whales) generally produce a series of sounds which are frequently termed 'songs' that are used for communicating.Oct 3, 2021
Confusingly, baleen was always known as whale-bone by the whalers and by those who used it in manufacture. It is not bone, but a derivative of skin! Baleen whales eat small, planktonic crustaceans such as copepods and krill, or small shoaling fish including herring and sardines.
Size. Baleen whales are some of the world's largest animals. ... Body Shape. The general body shape of baleen whales is roughly cylindrical but tapering at both ends. ... Coloration. Most baleen whales exhibit skin color variations of black and gray. ... Pectoral Flippers. ... Flukes. ... Hind Limbs. ... Dorsal Fin. ... Head.More items...
Whales swim forward by flexing their tails up and down, instead of side to side as with most fish. To change direction, they move their flippers, similar to the way an airplane steers (read How Sharks Work for details). The dorsal fins, if present, serve to stabilize the whale's body as it swims.
These species are divided into two main groups: the baleen whales and the toothed whales. While they are all considered whales, there are some important differences between the two types. Baleen is a substance made of keratin (the protein that makes up human fingernails).Apr 11, 2018