Whales
Blue Whales The Blue whale is the largest creature of the sea; in fact, it's the largest creature known to man. Contrary to what most people think, even though Blue whales live in the sea, they are mammals. They breathe air, have their babies born alive, and can live anywhere from 30 to 70 years. The Blue whale is a baleen whale, and instead of having teeth, Blue whales have around 300-400 baleen plates in their mouths. Baleen are rows of coarse, bristle-like fibers used to strain plankton from the water. Baleen is made of keratin, the same material as our fingernails. The Blue whale is called a "rorqual", a Norwegian word for "furrow" referring to the pleated grooves running from its chin to its naval. The pleated throat grooves allow the Blue whale's throat to expand during the huge intake of water during filter feeding; they can "hold 1,000 tons or more of food and water when fully expanded" (Small 1971). They average about 50-70 throat grooves. Blue whales grow up to about 80 feet (25m) long on average, weighing about 120 tons. The females are generally larger than the males, this is the case for all baleen whales. "The largest specimen found was a female 94 feet (29m) long weighing more than 174 tons" (Satchell 1998). The h
ead of the Blue whale forms up to a quarter of the total body length. Compared with other rorquals, the head is very broad. The blue whale heart is also large, the size of a small car and can pump almost 10 tons of blood throughout the body. They also have a very small, falcate (sickle-shaped) dorsal fin that is located near the fluke, or tail. Blue whales have long, thin flippers 8 feet (2.4m) long and flukes that are 25feet (7.6m) wide. The blue whale's skin is usually blue-gray with white-gray spots. The underbelly has brown, yellow, or gray specks. During the winter, in cold waters, diatoms stick to the underbelly, giving it a yellow to silver- to sulfur-colored sheen; giving the blue whale its nick-name of "sulfur bottoms". Other names include Sibbald's Rorqual and Great Northern Rorqual. Blue whales (like all baleen whales) are seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed tiny crustaceans (krill, copepods, etc), plankton, and small fish from the water. Krill, or shrimp-like euphasiids are no longer than 3 inches. It is amazing that the world's largest animals feed on the smallest marine life. Blue whales are gulpers, filter feeders that alternatively swim, then gulp a mouthful of plankton or fish. "An average-sized blue whale will eat 2,000-9,000 pounds (900- 4100kg) of plankton each day during the summer feeding season in cold, arctic waters (120 days)" (Hasley 1984). The blue whale has twin blowholes with exceptionally large fleshy splashguards to the front and sides. It has about 320 pairs of black baleen plates with dark gray bristles in the blue whale's jaws. These plates can be 35-39 inches (90cm-1m) long, 21 inches (53cm) wide, and weigh 200 pounds (90kg). The tongue weighs 4 tons. Blue whales live individually or in very small pods (groups). They frequently swim in pairs. When the whale comes to the surface of the water, it takes a large breath of air. Then it dives back into the water, going to a depth of 350 feet (105m). Diving is also the way in which whales catch most of their food. Whales can stay under water for up t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Rorqual Blue, Whales Blue, Ocean Blue, Southern Hemisphere, Whaling Commission, blue whales, Hemisphere Blue, blue whale, Conservation Act, Wild LifeVolume, Review Volume, Scientist Volume, hasley 1984, southern hemisphere, blue whale's, whales live, surface water, blue whales live, near surface warm, york ny, times minute, near surface, blue whales blue,
Approximate Word count = 1384
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
