Popi's Whales

Mysticeti

The baleen whales are a group of cetacea with two blowholes and baleen plates they use to catch plankton with. When feeding, they take in enormous amounts of water and then push it out through their baleen plates, keeping only the plankton in.

Baleen plates consist out of flexible strands of hair that are connected to the upper gum. They are made out of keratin so their appearance and texture is similar to fingernails! The hundreds of plates hang downards and form as a series of bristles where the whale's tongue rubs (see picture).

Baleen whales have different feeding techniques, some species stick to one more to the other but just like for breaching and other whale habits, it is not impossible for a whale to suddenly change their routine.

Popular feeding techniques for baleen whales are:

• Bubble Feeding
• Gulp Feeding
• Skim Feeding
• Bottom Feeding

sources:

coastalstudies.org

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