Or baleen plates. Comblike plates hanging from the upper jaw of many large whales, used to strain small prey from the sea water (also called "whale bone") [1]. It is made out of keratin, the same stuff as human fingernails [2].
Comparable to the lamallae of birds.
References
- ^ Carwardine, Mark; Illustrated by Camm, Martin (2002). Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises. Dorling Kindersley Limited. ISBN 0789489902. Cite uses deprecated parameter
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(help) - ^ Joel C. Sáenz, Grace Wong, Eduardo Carrillo, Alina Suárez, Fernando Zeledón, Laura May Collado, Miguel Iñíguez (2004). Ballenas y delfines de América Central / Whales and Dolphins of Central America. Editorial INBio. ISBN 9968702927.
| This article is part of Project Glossary, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each term related to animals. |
![]() | This article is part of Project Mammal Anatomy, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each anatomical term related to mammals. |
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