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, an All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each term related to animals. |
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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. |