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Baleen

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	Baleen
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	Topics Baleen Topic Home Baleen or whalebone is the means by which baleen whaleBaleen whale The baleen whales, also called whalebone whales or great whales, form the Mysticeti, one of two suborders ... s feed. These whales do not have teeth, but instead have rows of baleen plates in the upper jawJaw The jaw is either of the two opposable structures forming, or near the entrance to, the mouth.... – flat, flexible plates with frayed edges, arranged in two parallelParallel (geometry) Parallel is a term in geometry and in everyday life that refers to a property in Euclidean space of two or more lines or pla... rows, looking like combComb A comb is a device made of solid material, generally flat, always toothed, and is used in hair care for straightening and cl... s of thick hairHair Overview Hair is a filamentous outgrowth from the skin, found mainly in mammals.... . Baleen is not bone, but is composed of keratinKeratin Keratins are a family of fibrous structural proteins; tough and insoluble, they form the hard but nonmineralized structures ... , the same substance as hair, hornHorn (anatomy) A horn is a hollow, pointed projection of the skin of various animals, consisting mainly of keratin as well as other protein... , clawClaw A claw is a curved pointed appendage, found at the end of a toe or finger or, in arthropods, of the tarsus.... s and nailsNail (anatomy) In anatomy, a nail is a horn-like piece at the end of an animal finger or toe. See also claw. ... . Whales use these combs for filter feeding. Whales are the only vertebrate group to use this method of feeding in great abundance, and it has allowed them to grow to immense sizes. The blue whaleBlue Whale The Blue Whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales.... , the largest animal ever to have lived, is a baleen whale. Depending on the species of whale, a baleen plate can be 0.5 to 3.5 mMetre The metre, or meter , is a measure of length.... (2 to 12 ftFoot (unit of length) A foot is the name of a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and Unite... ) long, and weigh up to 90 kg (200 lb). Its hairy fringes are called baleen hair or whalebone-hair. Baleen plates are broader at the gumline (base). The plates have been compared to sieveSieve Sieve may mean:... s or Venetian blindWindow blind A window or door blind is a covering for a window or door, usually attached to the interior side of a window.... s. The word "baleen" derives from Early Modern EnglishEarly Modern English Early Modern English refers to the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period to 165... word meaning "whaleWhale The term whale is ambiguous: it can refer to all cetaceans, to just the larger ones, or only to members of particular families... ". This in turn derives from the LatinLatin Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome.... balaena, related to the GreekGreek language Greek has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language within the Indo-European family.... phallaina – both of these also mean "whale". Evolution of baleen The oldest true fossilFossil Fossils are the mineralized or otherwise preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms.... s of baleen are only 15 million years old, but baleen rarely fossilizes, and scientists believe it originated considerably earlier than that. This is indicated by skull modifications which are associated with baleen (such as a buttress of bone found beneath the eyes in the upper jaw, and loose lower jaw bones at the chin), being found in fossils from considerably earlier. Currently, baleen is believed to have evolved around thirty million years ago, possibly from a creature with a hard, gummy upper jaw, similar to that found on Dall's porpoiseDall's Porpoise Dall's Porpoise is a species of porpoise that came to worldwide attention in the 1970s.... today, which are, at a microscopic level, almost identical to baleen. Curiously, many early baleen whales also had teeth, but these were likely used only peripherally, or perhaps not at all (again, similar to Dall's porpoise, which catches squid and fish by gripping them against its hard upper jaw). Baleen in filter feeding A whale's baleen plates play the most important role in its filter feeding process. In order to feed, a baleen whale opens its mouth widely and scoops in dense shoals of prey (such as krillKrill Krill are shrimp-like marine invertebrate animals.... (euphausiids), copepodCopepod Overview Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat.... s or small fishFish A fish is a water-dwelling vertebrate with gills, that remains so throughout its life.... ), together with large volumes of water. It then partly shuts its mouth and presses its tongue against its upper jaw, forcing the water to pass out sideways through the baleen, thus sieving out the prey which is then swallowed. Uses of baleen Whalebone was formerly used in buggy whips and parasol ribs, and to stiffen parts of women's stays and dressDress The term dress may refer to any of these:-... es, like corsetCorset A corset is a garment worn to mold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes.... s. It was commonly used to crease paperPaper Paper is a thin, flat material produced by the amalgamation of plant fibres, which are subsequently held together without ex... ; its flexibility keeps it from damaging the paper. Its function now has been replaced by plasticPlastic Plastic covers a range of synthetic or semisynthetic polymerization products.... . It is also used in the cable-backed bowCable-backed bow A cable-backed bow is a bow reinforced with a cable on the back.... . See also Baleen whaleBaleen whale The baleen whales, also called whalebone whales or great whales, form the Mysticeti, one of two suborders ... Further reading St. Aubin, D.J, R.H. Stinson and J.R. Geraci 1984. "Aspects of the structure and function of baleen, and some effects of exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons". Canadian Journal of Zoology 62: 193-198