Krill
There are 10 species of baleen whales. Their name comes from the whales’ feeding structures—they have “baleen plates” instead of teeth. Baleen, also called “whalebone,” is made of keratin just like fingernails and hair. Each whale has many plates that hang down from its upper jaw, one after the other. The inner edge of each plate is frayed and forms a fibrous mat. The plates act like a sieve, straining out food from the water. Baleen whales are called “filter feeders.” They eat small schooling baitfish, herring and pollack, and they also eat very tiny organisms like plankton and krill. The baleen plates can catch krill a few centimetres long! It’s odd: blue whales are the largest animals in the world but their diets consist mainly of krill—some of the world’s smallest creatures!
Baleen plates on a humpback whale. For more images of a humpback feeding click here.
