A blue whale with a removable tag surfaces off the coast of California, U. The blue whale, the largest animal in Earth's history, eats about 16 tons of krill daily in the North Pacific, gobbling up these tiny shrimp-like crustaceans with a filter-feeding system in the mouth using baleen plates made of keratin, the substance found in people's fingernails, scientists said on Wednesday. The researchers calculated daily food intake for seven baleen whale species, tracking individual whales in the Atlantic, Pacific and Southern Oceans from to These gigantic marine mammals were found to eat up to three times more food than previous estimates that were based on stomach contents of hunted whales or extrapolations from smaller marine mammals.
The other species studied - humpback, fin, bowhead, right, Antarctic minke and Bryde's whales - also devoured impressive amounts. North Pacific Humpback whales can eat 9 tons of krill daily, while fin whales consume 8 tons. But large whales are themselves unimaginable. A blue whale is the size and weight of a Boeing ," said Stanford University marine biologist Matthew Savoca, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.
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Gray whales eat about , kg , lb. It is estimated to take kg lb. Food intake during the feeding season exceeds daily requirements and excess energy is stored in the blubber layer. Blubber gained during the feeding season sustains the whale during the winter months when food is scarce. During the traveling and breeding seasons, baleen whales eat much less or not at all. Winter daily feeding rate is only about 0.
Swimming near or at the surface of the water with the mouth open, right whales continuously strain the water for small zooplankton such as copepods. A right whale swims at or near the surface of the water with its mouth open.
Water and food enter through a gap in the front baleen plates, and food is caught in the matted baleen fringes inside. The food is caught on the matted baleen fringes inside. Water exits through the sides of the mouth.
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