Content
- Types of whales
- whale feeding
- what the whale eats
- What is plankton?
- the zooplankton
- Krill - the staple food of whales
- planktonic copepods
- other small animals
- Other Whale Foods
- whale watching
Whales are mammals belonging to the group of cetaceans, along with dolphins, porpoises, sperm whales and beaked whales. However, unlike the rest, whales are mystiques. This means that they don't have teeth, a characteristic that greatly affects their diet.
As you will see, whales' diet is based on very small animals, so they consume huge amounts of them. Do you want to know who these enigmatic animals are? So keep reading! In this article by PeritoAnimal, we will tell what the whale eats.
Types of whales
In biology, the term whale is used exclusively for the balénidos family. However, colloquially, many other cetaceans are known as whales:
- Balénidos: they are mysticetes (fin whales) and feed by filtration. This group includes right whales and the Greenland whale.
- balenopterids or rorquais: are also fin whales. Among them is the largest animal in the world, the blue whale, and the well-known humpback whale.
- Writings or gray whales: are odontocetes (toothed whales) like dolphins and other cetaceans.
In this article, we're going to talk exclusively about "fin whales", including rorquais. To get to know this animal better, we recommend that you read the article on whale types.
whale feeding
Whale feeding is based on a filtration process. For this, they have structures known as fins that come out of the upper jaw (like our teeth). These are a series of fibers that can be compared to the bristles on a brush.
When they find food, these animals open their huge jaws and both food and water enter their mouths. Later, push their tongue against the roof of their mouth, from the back to the mouth, while keeping the mouth almost closed. Thus, thanks to the presence of the fins, they make the water flow out, leaving food trapped in the oral cavity. Finally, they swallow food and other waste substances that may exist in the ocean, such as plastics.
what the whale eats
Now that we know a little more about how these animals feed, you're certainly wondering what whales eat. Although food depends on the places where they are, we can talk about a very common food for all of them: the plankton. What is this exactly? We will see!
What is plankton?
Plankton are a very small collection of organisms that live suspended in water. Among them are:
- Bacteria.
- Protists.
- Vegetables (phytoplankton).
- Animals (zooplankton).
Whale feeding is based on the last component, that is, they are carnivorous animals.
the zooplankton
The zooplankton includes very small animals that feed on other plankton members. They are adult crustaceans, such as krill or copepods, and larvae of animals that, when they complete their development, live at the bottom of the sea.
Krill - the staple food of whales
We call krill some tiny, normally transparent crustaceans that inhabit the world's oceans. These animals form groups of thousands and thousands of individuals that can extend for miles. For this reason, they are the basis of the diet of whales and many other marine predators.
planktonic copepods
Other crustaceans that play an essential role in the aquatic food chain are planktonic copepods. Those crustaceans they can measure less than a millimeter and are also a staple food for whales and many other ocean animals.
other small animals
In addition, we can find in zooplankton the juvenile stages of some fish and larvae of animals such as sponges, corals, echinoderms, molluscs... All these animals become "independent" of plankton when they reach adulthood.
Other Whale Foods
Among the foods of some whales, such as rorquais, there are many shoal fish. This allows the sea giants to eat hundreds of fish in one bite.
What fish do whales eat?
Some of the fish that are part of the whale's diet are:
- Capelin (malotusvillosus).
- Atlantic cod (gadusmorhua).
- Halibut (Reinhardtiushippoglossoids).
- Herring (Club spp.).
Finally, squid are also part of the food of some whales. For example, the largest animal in the world, the blue whale, usually descends to the ocean floor in search of shoals of squid.
whale watching
Whales make great migrations in search of food. In summer they migrate to cold waters where food is plentiful. When the cold comes and the amount of food decreases, they return to the warm waters, where they mate and reproduce.
This information allows you to know the best times and places for the whale watching. Let's see some examples:
- Peninsula Valdes (Argentina): it's the best place to see the aleia-franca-austral (Eubalaenaaustralis).
- Bahia ballena (Costa Rica): the humpback whale likes to go to these waters to mate. Here it is also possible to observe dolphins, mantas and sharks...
- Baja California (Mexico): it is the best place to see gray whales, although it is also common to see the blue whale.
- Canary Islands. It is possible to see all types of rorquais and also beaked whales, sperm whales and orcas.
- Glacier Bay (Canada): It is a well known place for observation of humpback whales.
- Monterey Bay, California(U.S): In summer and autumn, the blue whale can be seen in this bay. It is also possible to observe humpback whales, right whales, minke whales...
There are many other places where you can see the magnificence of these cetaceans. However, we encourage you to do so consciously, with as little impact as possible on your behavior and habitats.
If you want to read more articles similar to What does the whale eat?, we recommend that you enter our Balanced Diets section.