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In general, blue whale populations migrate between their summer feeding areas near the poles and their winter breeding grounds near the tropics. There is also evidence of year-round residencies, and partial or age/sex-based migration. Blue whales are filter feeders; their diet consists almost exclusively of krill. They are generally solitary or ...
Blue whales appear to avoid directly competing with other baleen whales. [81] [82] [83] Different whale species select different feeding spaces and times as well as different prey species. [73] [84] [85] In the Southern Ocean, baleen whales appear to feed on Antarctic krill of different sizes, which may lessen competition between them. [86]
In 2010, researchers found whales carry nutrients from the depths of the ocean back to the surface using a process they called the whale pump. [29] Whales feed at deeper levels in the ocean where krill is found, but return regularly to the surface to breathe. There whales defecate a liquid rich in nitrogen and iron.
To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and remain as a food source for the whale. Baleen is similar to bristles and consists of keratin, the same substance found in human fingernails, skin and hair. Baleen is a skin ...
Rorquals (/ ˈ r ɔːr k w əl z /) are the largest group of baleen whales, comprising the family Balaenopteridae, which contains nine extant species in two genera.They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which can reach 180 tonnes (200 short tons), and the fin whale, which reaches 120 tonnes (130 short tons); even the smallest of the group, the northern minke ...
There are approximately 89 [8] living species split into two parvorders: Odontoceti or toothed whales (containing porpoises, dolphins, other predatory whales like the beluga and the sperm whale, and the poorly understood beaked whales) and the filter feeding Mysticeti or baleen whales (which includes species like the blue whale, the humpback ...
Despite the common name of the species, the crabeater seal does not feed on crabs (the few crab species in its range are mostly found in very deep water [19]). Rather, it is a specialist predator on Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ), which comprise over 90% of the diet. [ 2 ]
The Mysticeti, or baleen whales, have a filter-feeding system, are fifteen species in three families, and include the blue whale, right whales, bowhead whale, humpback whale rorqual, and gray whale. The wide range of body mass in cetaceans has a significant influence on the capacity for oxygen storage and use, which affects dive limits.