Right whales have the longest baleen. Bowhead whales are particularly known for their long baleen plates, which reach lengths of 4 m (13 ft.). Bowhead whales typically have 230 to 360 baleen plates on each side of the upper jaw. Gray whales have about 130 to 180 baleen plates on each side of the upper jaw.
How long is a blue whale’s baleen?
The baleen of the bowhead whale can be be 4 metres long. Baleen whales are grouped into four families and they range in size from the blue whale which can grow up to 33m (108ft) long, to the pygmy right whale, which is 6.5m (21.33ft) long.
What are the 3 groups of baleen whales?
Baleen whales are cetaceans classified under the parvorder Mysticeti, and consist of four extant families: Balaenidae (right whales), Balaenopteridae (rorquals), Cetotheriidae (pygmy right whale), and Eschrichtiidae (gray whale).
How big is the largest baleen whale?
The blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whale suborder Mysticeti. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of 29.9 metres (98 ft) and a weight of 173 tonnes (170 long tons; 191 short tons), it is the largest animal known to have existed.
Is the blue whale a baleen whale?
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.
Can whales eat humans?
No, whales do not eat people; they primarily eat small aquatic lifeforms such as fish, squid, and krill, and a few dolphin species are even known to eat marine mammals such as seals, sea lions, walruses, and whales. Still, they are not known for consuming or eating people.
What is the heaviest animal in the world?
The blue whale is the heaviest animal ever known to have existed.
…
Heaviest living animals.
| Rank | 1 |
|---|---|
| Animal | Blue whale |
| Average mass [tonnes] | 110 |
| Maximum mass [tonnes] | 190 |
| Average total length [m (ft)] | 24 (79) |
Is a sperm whale a whale?
Sperm whales are the largest of the toothed whales and have one of the widest global distributions of any marine mammal species. They are found in all deep oceans, from the equator to the edge of the pack ice in the Arctic and Antarctic. They are named after the waxy substance, spermaceti, found in their heads.
What eats a baleen whale?
Baleen Whale Predators
Killer whales may team up to take on a large baleen whale. Large sharks also may attack baleens. As opposed to toothed whales, which form social groups and protect each other from predators, the baleen whale is less social.
Which whale has no teeth?
Whales Without Teeth
Baleen whales do not have teeth. Baleen whales have two blowholes, and they tend to be larger than toothed whales. Instead of teeth, whales in this group have special baleen plates with bristles that serve their dental needs.
What is the longest whale ever recorded?
The longest blue whale on record is a female measured at a South Georgia whaling station in the South Atlantic (1909); she was 110′ 17″ (33.58m) long. The heaviest blue whale was also a female hunted in the Southern Ocean, Antarctica, on March 20, 1947.
What is the largest sperm whale ever recorded?
The largest animal weighed in whole was a sperm whale which measured 18 metres (59 ft) long and weighed 53 tonnes (52 long tons; 58 short tons).
How big is a blue whale brain?
The Evolutionary Significance of Brain Size. One of the most striking differences between nervous systems is their size (measured as weight or volume) – the brain of a blue whale weighs up to 9 kg while that of a locust weighs less than a gram (Figure 5).
How do blue whales die?
They can also die from predation from killer whales, polar bears or from sharks. This is especially prevalent in smaller species and calves of larger whales that are easy targets for the marine mammal predators. … Moreover, whales can die from diseases, parasites and even difficulties during birth, just like us.
Does blue whale still exist?
Blue whales are still an endangered species and there are thought to be no more than 25,000 living in the world today.
Why whales should not be hunted for food?
5) Whales are full of persistent toxins, like mercury and PCBs. As long-lived and slow-growing animals they ‘bioaccumulate’ these in their blubber. This causes them problems when fighting disease and breeding, and can also makes them toxic if eaten.