whale: Toothless Whales

There baleen whales are classified into four families: the right whale family (Balaenidae), including the bowhead, or Greenland right whale; the gray whale family (Eschrichtidae), with a single species (Eschrichtius robustus) found in the N Pacific Ocean; the family containing only the pygmy right whale (Caperea marginata), which, depending on the authority, is a member of either the Cetotheriidae or the Neobalaenidae family; and the rorqual family (Balaenopteridae). Rorquals, the most familiar of the large whales, have large, pouchlike throats with furrows running from mouth to belly. The family includes the humpback whale, the sei whale, the minke whale, the Bryde's whale, the fin whale (or common rorqual), and the blue whale, which can grow to a length of 100 ft (30 m) and a weight of 150 tons.

Baleen whales are large species, usually over 33 ft (10 m) long. They are filter feeders, living on shrimplike krill, plankton, and small fish. They lack teeth but have brushlike sheets of a horny material called baleen, or whalebone, edging the roof of the mouth. With these strainers and their enormous tongues, tons of food can be separated from seawater. Baleen whales have narrow throats and paired blowholes. Male humpbacks produce a repeated pattern of sounds called a song during the mating season; the purpose is not clear, as all males in a group sing basically the same song, which alters over time.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Classification
• Whaling
• Toothless Whales
• Toothed Whales
• Types of Whales
• Characteristics and Behavior
• Bibliography

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