Baleen whale

Humpback Whale

• Rorqual ( Balaenopteridae )
• Right whales ( Balaenidae )
• Cetotheriidae
• Gray whales ( Eschrichtiidae )

The baleen whales ( Mysticeti ) form one of the two suborders of whales ( Cetacea). They are found in all seas. They are named after the baleen, horn plates in the upper jaw instead of teeth, which are used to filter krill.

Anatomy

Most giants among the whales are among the baleen whales. While toothed whales have only one large whale in their ranks, the sperm whale, are among the baleen whales all other large whales, including the blue whale, the largest living animal on the planet. All baleen whales are larger than 6 meters.

Characteristic of the group are the three-sided horny plates in the upper jaw, called baleen. On both sides there are up to 400 baleen plates which are fibred very dense feathery. Teeth have baleen whales only as embryos. But are known fossil baleen whales with teeth instead of baleen. Baleen whales have two blowholes, which often produce a V-shaped blow as opposed to toothed whales.

Nutrition

Unlike toothed whales to baleen whales feed mainly on zooplankton or smaller marine animals such as krill. However, some species also eat fish. The whale takes to a large amount of water, which is facilitated by an extremely extensible throat pouch in the furrows whales. Then he closes his jaw and pushes the water with his tongue through the baleen plates to the outside. The small animals in the water are retained by the baleen as through a filter and can be easily swallowed by the whale.

Other ways to use the whalebone, are swimming with their mouths open ( for example, right whales ) or filtering of the seafloor ( gray whale ).

Behavior

Hiking

Baleen whales are found in all oceans. All kinds take seasonal migrations. In the summer they keep the food intake in cool waters of high latitudes, and migrate in the fall in warmer waters where they mate and give birth to the boy. Outside of food baleen whales eat occurrences little or fasting for months. The gray whale is even on the longest migration of any mammal.

Jumps

Despite their considerable weight of baleen whales are able to completely jump out of the water. Known for their acrobatic behavior humpback whales, but other baleen whales are breaking through with the body's water surface or flap their fins loudly it. The purpose of these statements is not clear.

Tones

Unlike toothed whales for baleen whales is not demonstrated the ability to echolocation. However, they are able to emit sounds in the infrasonic range at high volume. The cries of the largest whales are several 100 km audible. Unique are the songs of humpback whales, whose complex sequences of verses are modified over the years and probably serve the courtship.

Fossil baleen whales

Extinct is the kind Eobalaenoptera harrisoni. The complete skeleton of a fossil baleen whales from the Tertiary is located at the Museum of Nature and Environment Lübeck. The Janjucetidae represent an intermediate form of the two suborders dar.

System

It divides the baleen whales usually in four, sometimes three families:

• Right whales ( Balaenidae ) have no throat grooves, a giant head and are up to 16 m long.
• Cetotheriidae, extinct except for a single species, the Pygmy ( Caperea marginata )
• Mediate gray whales ( Eschrichtiidae ) between smooth and furrows whales; also they consist of only one kind
• Rorqual ( Balaenopteridae ) are named after their furrowed throat and chest; they have in relation to the body ( which is absent in some representatives of the aforementioned families ) has a smaller head than the right whales, shorter beards and getting a back fin. This family includes the largest whales.