The Filter Feeding Giants of Deep Ocean

             In the animal kingdom, whales constitute a group of animals with the largest and heaviest body. There are two types of whales, namely baleen whales and toothed whales. They all belong to the order cetacea and baleen whales belong to the suborder mysticeti. There are fifteen species extant species are there in this suborder in four families. With the support of water to bear their weight, whales can grow to enormous sizes. All the baleen whales are several times larger and heavier than the largest land animal, the African elephant. Even the pygmy right whale, which is the smallest of the baleen whales, is also about three times heavier than a full grown male African elephant, and the largest one, the blue whale, can reach a length of hundred meters and weighs as much as thirty full grown elephants.

Let us take a look at these magnificent giants of ocean in brief:

1)      Family Balaenopteridae

i)                    Subfamily Balaenopterinae

a)      Genus Balaenoptera

a)      B. acutorostrata (Common minke whale)

b)      B. bonaerensis (Antarctic minke whale)

c)      B. omurai (Omura whale)

d)     B. brydei (Bryde’s whale)

e)      B. edeni (Eden’s whale)

f)       B. borealis (Sei whale)

g)      B. physalus (Fin whale or Finback Whale)

h)      B. musculus (Blue whale)

ii)                  Subfamily Megapterinae

b)      Genus Megaptera

a)      M. novaeangliae (Humpback whale)

2)      Family Balaenidae

a)      Genus Balaena 
      a)      B. mysticetus (Bowhead whale)

                              b)   Genus Eubalaena

                                    a)    E. glacialis (North Atlantic right whale)

                                    b)    E. japonica (North pacific right whale)

                                    c)    E. australis (Southern right whale)

            3)     Family Neobalaenidae

                              a)   Genus Caperea

                                    a)    C. marginata (Pygmy right whale)

            4)      Family Eshchrictiidae

                              a)    Genus Eshchrictius

                                    a)    E. robustus (Gray whale)

The most important feature of the baleen whales is their baleen plates, which help them to filter-feed on the planktons floating on the sea water, unlike the toothed whales which feed on other marine animals by hunting them. Baleen whales gulp in an enormous quantity of water and their baleen plates filter that water. Water is ejected out and the planktons and krill present in that water are left inside the mouth of the whale, which it swallows. The substance present in their baleen is keratin, the same substance that is present in our fingernails and hair.  

Blue whale is not only the largest animal on our planet today, but it is the largest animal that ever known to have existed on our planet. A full grown female can be as long as a hundred feet and can weigh 180-200 tons. The largest known specimen was 113 feet long and weighed 209 tons. Strangely enough, unlike the terrestrial mammals, females are always larger and heavier than the males. Being the largest animal, blue whale holds the record for several organs which are the largest in the entire animal kingdom. Its heart is as large as a family car. Its tongue is as large as an elephant and its blood vessels are so large that a full grown man can easily swim inside it!

Fin whale or finback whale comes next to blue whale in length. A fin whale can reach a length of 85 feet. The largest specimen ever found by man was a female which was 89 feet long. They can weigh between 100-130 tons. They are famous for their distinct V-shaped blow. Their beautiful streamlined body makes it one of the most beautiful of all the whales.

Bowhead whale, a member of family Balaenidae, even though shorter than the fin whales, has a round and sturdy body which makes it as heavier as fin whales. They can grow 65-70 feet in length and weigh as much as 100 tons. They got their name from their bow shaped head, which is about one fourth to one third of their entire body length.

Humpback whales, which can grow from 40-50 feet in length and weigh 30-36 tons, are famous for their long fins, which are as long as one third of their entire body length. They are also famous for their acrobatics, even though all baleen whales are capable of leaping out of water.

Pygmy right whales are the smallest among the baleen whales. They grow just about 20-21 feet and can weigh between 3-3.5 tons. Common minke whale, Antarctic minke whale and Omura whale come next in the list of smallest whales. They average between 30-38 feet in length and weigh up to 10 tons.

Right whales are named so because they were considered to be the right whales for hunting due to their behavior of staying close to the surface and their extremely lazy behavior. Gray whale, which is the sole member of the family Eschrictiidae, is named as devil fish because of its fighting behavior.

The status of all baleen whales is critically endangered now because of the indiscriminate hunting for their blubber, which serves as a protection to them against the extreme cold of ocean water. The blubber is nothing but fat. Nowadays, due to the conservation efforts, these enormous and magnificent animals are being drawn away from the brink of extinction. If we allow the largest animal that ever existed on our planet to go extinct, it is surely one of the greatest tragedies in the history of life on the earth.