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Whales were hunted in European waters throughout the Middle Ages for their meat and oil. [2] According to Catholic practice at the time, aquatic creatures were generally considered "fish", therefore whale was deemed suitable for eating during Lent [2] and other "lean periods". [3]
Baleen whales can have streamlined or large bodies, depending on the feeding behavior, and two limbs that are modified into flippers. The fin whale is the fastest baleen whale, recorded swimming at 10 m/s (36 km/h; 22 mph). Baleen whales use their baleen plates to filter out food from the water by either lunge-feeding or skim-feeding
Baleen is a skin derivative. Some whales, such as the bowhead whale, have longer baleen than others. Other whales, such as the gray whale, only use one side of their baleen. These baleen bristles are arranged in plates across the upper jaw of whales.
The whales eat amphipod crustaceans like tiny shrimp and worms, which they consume by sucking up water and sediment from the seafloor, where such creatures live, then using their baleens to filter ...
During this feeding season humpback whales actively feed for up to twenty-two hours a day. [4] They do this so they can store enough fat reserves to live through their breeding season when they do not eat at all. [4] Humpback whales typically spend summer months in feeding grounds with cooler waters that they return to every year. [5]
The gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), [1] also known as the grey whale, [5] is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of 14.9 meters (49 ft), a weight of up to 41 tonnes (90,000 lb) and lives between 55 and 70 years, although one female was estimated to be 75–80 years of age.
In the Faroe Islands, whales mostly eat squid, but will also eat fish species such as greater argentine and blue whiting. However, Faroe whales do not seem to feed on cod, herring, or mackerel, even when they are abundant. [20] Pilot whales generally take several breaths before diving for a few minutes. Feeding dives may last over ten minutes.
Killer whales hunt and eat both young and adult belugas. [34] They live in all the seas of the world and share the same habitat as belugas in the sub-Arctic region. Attacks on belugas by killer whales have been reported in the waters of Greenland, Russia, Canada and Alaska.