Blue Whales Teeth
Second scientists studying whale development have discovered that in the womb baleen whales.
Blue whales teeth. Instead they have 270 395 plates of baleen on either side of their jaw. They are one of the baleen whales having baleen which is a type of filter to help collect krill plankton and small fish on which they feed. They are one of the baleen whales having baleen which is a type of filter to help collect krill plankton and small fish on which they feed. Blue whales capture krill through lunge feeding a bulk filter feeding strategy that involves accelerating toward a prey patch at high speeds opening the mouth 80 90 and inverting the tongue creating a large sac.
The toothed whale with the biggest full set of teeth is the sperm whale who has around 40 to 52 cone shaped teeth that are 4 8 inches in length. Because baleen whales do not have teeth they usually end up swallowing their prey whole and almost always search for small prey that is easily digestible such as krill a common food for the blue whale which in most cases measures less than 2 inches in size. Living whales fall into two groups. However the ancestors of baleen whales had teeth.
We know this from two lines of evidence. Baleen look like long thin teeth placed very close to one another. First close living and extinct relatives of baleen whales have teeth. Blue whales do not have teeth at all.
Baleen whales however have what are referred to as baleen plates in their gums along each whale s upper jaw. It s much more likely that baleen whales simply lost teeth than that all of those different groups independently evolved teeth. Although all toothed. Blue whales do not have teeth.
Toothless baleen bearing whales and odontoceti most of which have teeth.