What is meant by baleen plates?
Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. These baleen bristles are arranged in plates across the upper jaw of whales. Depending on the species, a baleen plate can be 0.5 to 3.5 m (1.6 to 11.5 ft) long, and weigh up to 90 kg (200 lb).
Do blue whales have baleen plates?
baleen plates. Blue whales typically have 260 to 400 baleen plates on each side of the upper jaw. Minke whales have about 230 to 360 on each side. Baleen is an adaptation for filter-feeding.
What do baleen plates do?
All baleen whales have baleen instead of teeth which they use to collect shrimp-like krill, plankton and small fish from the sea. These bristly baleen plates filter, sift, sieve or trap the whales’ favourite prey from seawater inside their mouths.
Is blue whale baleen?
During certain times of the year, a single adult blue whale consumes about 4 tons of krill a day. Blue whales are baleen whales, which means they have fringed plates of fingernail-like material, called baleen, attached to their upper jaws.
Do blue whales teeth?
Blue whales are enormous, magnificent creatures. The largest mammals known to have existed, they can grow to be more than 100 feet in length and weigh more than 100 tons, and they don’t even have teeth. They capture prey using a giant sieve in their mouth of baleen or whalebone.
What do blue whales eat?
krill
Blue whales are the largest animals ever to live on our planet. They feed almost exclusively on krill, straining huge volumes of ocean water through their baleen plates (which hang from the roof of the mouth and work like a sieve). Some of the biggest individuals may eat up to 6 tons of krill a day.
Where does baleen come from?
Baleen plate or frond. Baleen comes from whales that do not have teeth, but instead have rows of baleen plates in the upper jaw – flat flexible plates with frayed edges, arranged in two rows, looking like combs of thick hair. Baleen is composed of keratin, the same substance as hair, horn, claws and nails.
Is baleen sharp?
Some whales like the Blue, Gray, Humpback, and Right whales have baleen plates. These whales are called Mysticeti whales. Some whales like the Sperm, Orca, Beluga, and Narwhal have sharp teeth. They use their sharp teeth for hunting their prey and for tearing flesh.