Baleen whales (photo can be seen in the article) is one of the modern cetacean suborders. They impress with their size, evolutionary origin and lifestyle. Learn about the largest animals on the planet in more detail.
Cetacean Squad
This is a large group of mammals, including the largest representatives of the entire class. Nowadays, there are 38 genera, united in two suborders: baleen and toothed whales (mystacocetes and odontotsets). These are animals that are fully adapted to living in the aquatic environment. The scientific name of the unit comes from the Greek language and means "sea monster." And this is not surprising, because whales are the largest mammals on the planet. They have a modified streamlined spindle-shaped body, smooth skin and a thick layer of fat under it. It protects animals from hypothermia. In the process of evolution, the hind limbs atrophied, and the forelimbs turned into giant flippers.
Baleen whales (toothless): general description
The suborder includes four families uniting 10 species. These are the humpback, blue, greenland, southern, dwarf, gray whales, finwale, saivail, Bride minke and small. Further in the article we will learn about some of them in more detail. Most representatives of the suborder are cosmopolitans and are widely distributed in the waters of the oceans. To the question of how many teeth a whisker has, one can safely answer: not a single one. During evolution, all of them underwent significant changes and turned into special horn plates. They are called the "whalebone", which formed the basis of the name of the suborder. Solid formations are located across the gums one after another with an interval of 0.3-1.2 cm. The top and inner edges of each plate are split into long, thin bristles. This structure of the jaw apparatus resembles a sieve or filter. The animal swallows a large mass of water with small fish, plankton and crustaceans, and then filters it.
The number of teeth of a whiskered whale was not known in antiquity, but that they were an indisputable fact. It is confirmed by the discovery of a fossil species in 2011. A small whale (up to 3 m in length) had large and sharp teeth. This proves that modern species have come a long evolutionary path to the modern structure of the elastic jaw apparatus.
Blue (or cyan) whale
To this sea animal in different formulations, only one epithet is used - the "most." The length of his body reaches 33 meters, and the weight exceeds 150 tons. This is the largest animal on modern Earth and probably of all that ever lived on the planet. With such a large size, the blue whiskered whale (whose teeth have turned into a developed filtering apparatus) has a peaceful disposition and feeds exclusively on plankton. His body is slender, elongated, with a large head, its length is 27% of the whole body. Blue whales are long-livers: according to various estimates of scientists, their average life expectancy is 40-90 years. This cosmopolitan species, its historical habitat covers almost all the oceans. Now they can be met extremely rarely, since at a certain period they were on the verge of complete extermination by man.
Bowhead whale
Baleen whales of this species are inhabitants of the cold waters of the Northern Hemisphere. They also have quite impressive dimensions - up to 20 meters in length (females) and 18 m (males), weight from 75 to 150 tons. Dive to a great depth (up to 200 meters) and may not surface for about 40 minutes. They live on average about 40 years. The species has not been studied very well, since it is difficult to observe them in severe climatic conditions. It feeds on plankton.
Humpback Whale (Long-armed Whale)
The mammal owes its name to the shape of the dorsal fin, resembling a hump, and the characteristic habit of bending when swimming. The first photo of our review captures a jump out of water characteristic of a humpback. This is a fairly large whale up to 14.5 m long, rarely 17-18 m, and weighing 30 tons. It differs from other minke whales in body shape and color, due to which it is even possible to distinguish individual individuals. The mustachioed humpback whale is found in all corners of the oceans, although the populations are sparse. He prefers to stay in offshore and coastal zones, swims to a depth only during migrations. The view has the status of vulnerable.
Finwal
It takes the second place after the blue whale in size and weight among animals (pictured above). These two species are united by a very close relationship. Sometimes there are hybrids. Now two subspecies of the finials are known: the North Atlantic and the Antarctic; the existence of the third is allowed, according to some scientists. Individuals living in the Northern Hemisphere, in adulthood, reach a length of 24 m, and residents of the Southern Hemisphere - from 20 to 27 m. This whiskered whale, unlike its relatives, willingly lives in small groups (up to 6 animals). Finwal dives deeply (up to 250 m) and swims quickly, developing a speed of up to 50 kilometers per hour, under water it can spend up to 15 minutes without air. In addition to man, the whale has no natural enemies. However, at the moment, finwal is rare and is threatened with extinction.
Sail
An endangered species from the family of minke whales, growing in length up to 20 meters, weighing about 30 tons. The diet is mainly made up of crustaceans and schooling fish (in particular pollock), as well as cephalopods. The whiskered whale, on average, survives to the age of 60 years. The salvage dives well to a depth of three hundred meters and can do without air for up to 20 minutes. Active extermination of this species began after the abundance of blue whales and finwales decreased. In 1986, fishing for him was completely prohibited.
Stripes Bride
A whale of medium size, up to 14 m in length and weighing up to 25 tons. It has an elongated body of dark gray color with small bright spots (pictured). A distinctive feature is three spaced growths in the upper part of the head. Prefer to live in pairs or small groups. More or less settled species, migrations are short-term and depend solely on the availability of food (mainly fish, cephalopods). The whiskered whale is found quite often in all oceans.
