Baleen whales are some of the most unique and breathtaking ... When they are skim feeding they swim slowly through swarms of fish or plankton with their mouth open to catch mouthfuls of food.

Blue whales swim up to krill and open their large mouths around them. They then push out the ocean water, while the krill stay trapped inside their mouths by the baleen. Baleen whales swallow the ...

The bowhead whale, for example, often swims along with its mouth open on the surface of the ocean, allowing the water to flow through its baleen plates while trapping prey inside. This species has the ...

Baleen whales all have long strands hanging from the top of their mouth – imagine lots of straw broom bristles. These strands are made of the same material as your nails and hair, called keratin.

Modern bowhead and right whales are species that use filter-feeding techniques to eat, sifting material through plates of baleen as they swim with their mouths open near the ocean’s surface to ...

Pirotta said baleen whales such as humpbacks open their jaws very wide to scoop up as much fish and krill as possible and then expel the water through the fibrous plates they have instead of teeth.

While baleen is a soft tissue and thus is less likely to fossilize, the researchers noted the presence of grooves in the roof of Hupehsuchus’s mouth, which may have anchored baleen-like tissues.

In contrast, the baleen whales don’t do this. While mysticetes are able to block their nose and mouth when breathing and feeding, how exactly they communicate has remained unclear. ‘Unlike toothed ...