Around Barrow, Alaska

February 2005

strips of baleen from the bowhead whale

make a good palm tree

at the top of the world

baleen used for scooping krill

Bowhead whales (like all baleen whales) are seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed plankton and tiny crustaceans like krill, copepods, pteropods, etc., from the water. Bowheads are skimmers, filter feeders that swim slowly with their mouth open, constantly eating. On occasion, they are also bottom feeders, eating benthic prey from the mud on the ocean floor. The fine baleen hairs can filter out very tiny prey including copepods, steropods, euphasids and mysids (tiny crustaceans).

The bowhead whale has about 350 pairs of black baleen plates with silver-colored bristles hanging from the jaws. The baleen is the longest of any whale and very fine; baleen plates are about 175.5 inches (4.5 m) long and 14 inches (36 cm) wide