Meals on the go: Delving into the eating habits of whales

ST LOUIS, Missouri: Researchers have detailed for the first time how baleen whales use crossflow filtration to separate prey from water without ever coming into contact with the baleen.

Saint Louis University professor of physics Jean Potvin and biologist Alexander Werth hope that a greater understanding of how these aquatic mammals feed will shed light on how whales have evolved to the enormous sizes seen today.

This new knowledge also will aid conservation efforts for whales, most of which are endangered species.

Baleen are comb-like keratin plates that have replaced the teeth of the whale’s ancestors and play the role of a filtration surface in their mouths.

The researchers looked at how this type of feeding affects a whale’s drag as it moves through the water and how this form of filtration is enhanced by a large body size.

Said Potvin: “One practical aspect of this research is to know how much food they need. For the largest species, the food is krill and copepods. With climate change and human exploitation currently affecting prey availability, scientists wonder how whales will adjust to the possible food shortages or geographical displacements that are likely to arise. Answering how much food whales need to eat, or in other words, how much energy they have to spend throughout the year to catch and digest food, will help answer this question.” — Newswise