Why are they named
Whales?
During the early whaling days, only
the slow whales could be hunted, since the whalers used rowing
boats launched from sailing ships for the hunt. Furthermore
the whales had to be buoyant and floated when dead. Only a few
species of whales fit this description. These species were therefore
the Right Choice (in Norwegian: "Ræt Hval")
of animal to hunt. Today one of these species is named the Northern
Right Whale
Baleen
Baleen is made from the same material,
keratin, as finger nails and hair. In fact it looks a lot like
a very thick, long nail that has split into thick hairs at the
end. The 'hairs' are matted together and form a fine net-like
mesh where the whale's food is caught. Depending on the whale
species these 'hairs' may be thick, forming a course mesh (capturing
mostly larger prey, such as shrimp-like animals and fish) or
very fine, creating a mesh capable of capturing even microscopic
animals, such as copepods.
The baleen hangs down in perpendicular rows, one on each side
of the mouth, of up to 480 plates (nails) each, with the hair-like
fringes on the inside of the mouth.
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Baleen whales are Marine
Mammals, belonging to the suborder Mysticeti. They do not have
any teeth. They are named for the hair-like structures, baleen that
hangs down from the left and right sides of their upper palate and
is used to capture food - see sidebar. Most species of large whales
are baleen whales, including the blue whale, the heaviest animal
(160 tons) ever to have been recorded, even though not the longest
(over 30 meters). (Some of the dinosaurs were at least as long and
siphonophores, jelly-fish-like colonial animals that live in the
oceans today, can get longer.) Baleen whales evolved from toothed
whales (Odontocetes) in the New Zealand area some 12 million years
ago. Their evolution included the development of baleen and loss
of teeth. They thus have a feeding apparatus that is very well suited
for filtering food from the ocean.
The
only baleen whale species regularly seen in Hawaiian waters is the
Humpback whale. In addition, there has been at least one confirmed
sighting of a fin whale and one reported sighting of a northern
right whale in Hawaiian waters. The Sperm whale is the only other
large whale species regularly sighted in Hawaiian waters, however,
this is NOT a Baleen whale, but a toothed whale belonging to the
suborder Odontoceti, which also include
dolphins, porpoises and beaked whales.
Food
& Feeding Behavior
Distribution
and Migration
Taxonomy
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